Anxiety of getting in college

New York Times today carried an article on the anxiety of getting in college. There is absolutely nothing surprising in the article if you are a parent of a college going child in the US. It may serve as a warning for people in other countries who think that their eduction systems are breaking down and want a dose of American experience. As I wrote last week, American experience in this regard is no better than Chinese experience.

The New York Times Article also mentioned MIT's admissions office. Now that brought the experience to this home. The following is something I wrote on 29 December 2005.

In the days prior to sending out decisions, MIT's admissions office posted its daily progress on a blog (http://matt.mitblogs.com/), which Daniel read compulsively and reported to us with great enthusiasm. He wasn't 100% sure that he would get in, but had high hopes.

On Friday, December 9, a post on the blog said that all decisions on early applications were sent out by the afternoon. On that day, it snowed heavily, but somehow the Lexington schools were still open. Rumors had it that the new superintendent wanted to impress the voters by not calling a snow day. A bad mistake. In the afternoon, a kid on his way home was hit by a slipping car.

Snow day or not, the Suo family waited with a mixture of anticipation and dread for the Saturday mail.

Saturday came and went, but no mail came from MIT. To add to our misery, Daniel read in emails that two of his classmates received letters of admission from MIT. The letters came in tubes. When the tubes were opened, confetti came out. Clever stuff.

Still no mail for Daniel on Monday. Then Tuesday and Wednesday. No tube. Meanwhile Daniel's other classmates were getting letters. Perhaps the post office made a mistake? Daniel made us go to the post office several times. It became more and more dreadful as the week went on. Denian began to see the tube in her dreams. When awake, however, we nearly completely gave up hope. Friends began to comfort us. Daniel was in such a bad mood, and I had to remind him that he hadn't receive a decision yet. Preparing for the worst, I also reminded him that college admission is not an exact science, and one cannot let a admission committee or any committee judge one's worth. Such high-minded thoughts did not really help. Nothing except for the tube could lift Daniel's spirit.

The suspense was getting unbearable. Daniel finally called MIT on Thursday and was told that he was actually ADMITTED!

The notorious tube came on Sunday Morning, December 17. I saw it in our mailbox, and immediately delivered it to the Stop and Shop Supermarket, where Daniel was working as a part-time cashier.

What a week! It could have easily ended differently.

Update on 6 April 2007. Months later Daniel was also admitted by Harvard, where he is freshman. Here is a photo of Daniel taken when he received admission from MIT.