quo.ti.di.an
anatomy of (an applicant’s) melancholy
Why is it so difficult to gain acceptance into a prestigious professional school? One might go mad in an attempt to cultivate the perfect application. Elite professional schools fetishize renaissance (wo)men. They want the next Galileo, Cervantes, Fielding, Obama. There is some amount of glamour and intellectual status (obviously) associated with attaining advanced degrees, but the application process is out of control. It is unlikely to be accepted at Harvard Medical School even if you have had a successful career in the sciences. Similarly, an impeccable undergraduate record coupled with nearly perfect LSAT scores only indicates that Yale Law School will continue to read your application; it is not a clear indicator as to whether or not one will be accepted. However, these schools don’t want individuals to excel at only one thing. In short, a successful applicant will be well-learned and have done something as notable as painting the Sistine Chapel—but not that because that has already been done—and have the promise of becoming a superstar in his or her chosen field. Despite scientific and technological advances altering and expanding the curriculum at some prestigious professional schools, the problems with admissions strategies are strikingly similar to earlier times.
In Europe during the sixteenth century, there were three paths that individuals could take upon completing their time at the university: doctor, lawyer, or theologian. It should be no surprise that the majority of people educated during this time were very wealthy, aristocratic families. Unfortunately, that tradition has remained. The amount of money it costs to gain acceptance to prestigious schools is outrageous! There are some costs that cannot be avoided, such as paying to take the standardized test required for admission and the cost of applications. In some instances, because there is no surefire way of gaining acceptance at any school, that amounts to several thousand dollars. But what about the $2000 course Kaplan offers to better one’s standardized test scores? Additionally, it is necessary to add the costs of attending a private high school (or the property taxes paid to attend a good public school) and a prestigious undergraduate institution. I won’t bother to enumerate the costs of raising a child, but they are there. Sure, there are test cases that show that some people have been accepted despite being economically disadvantaged, but I seriously doubt whether that number is even close to the people that have been advantaged.
I assume I’m not alone when I admit that it would be great to be accepted to one of the professional schools of my dream schools; it is the ultimate source of validation. This leaves me baffled by two questions that I have used to guide my list of reasons I will use to console myself after being rejected from schools. Is the education at the nation’s school inherently better than at other schools? Reason tells us that it is ok if we don’t attend these schools, but why are we still so heartbroken when we are rejected?
