Friday, January 14, 2011

Elite Colleges overated or underated?

OK I have many mixed feelings about elite colleges and whether or not they make a person's life better and successful. Reading the seven responses about whether or not Elite Colleges make a person's life better made me kind of rethink my initial thoughts.

The one article which I found least convincing and persuasive is the response called "Access to Money and Power". I found this article to unpersuasive because the main points were not very strong. First of all the author spoke a lot about how students with high SAT Scores that go to elite colleges graduate at a higher rate then the very same qualified students who went to a non elite college. I just found these SAT facts and numbers to be confusing, wordy, and cluttering. The author also made it seem as if SAT scores were the only thing that colleges look at when in reality colleges look at your GPA, extra curricular activities, personal statement, etc. Another reason that I find it unconvincing is that towards the end the author states that elite colleges are only meant for the elite people, but this is just an opinion there is no real evidence to back it up. The author also does not explain what an elite person is. Is an elite person rich or are they highly educated.

On the other hand, the article which I found to be very persuasive the "What You Do vs. Where You Go" response. I found this article to be persuasive because I really liked the beginning in which it shows multiple successful, rich, and powerful people that either dropped out of college or went to a non elite college. This showed how an elite college is not necessary in order to achieve a happy and successful life. This article also gave more of student point of view as supposed from listening to an expert.

At the end of the day I think that elite colleges are beneficial but it really depends on what career you are pursuing.

No comments:

Post a Comment