College Admissions Incorporated

I don't want to brag or anything, but I got about six college letters from colleges today. Hofstra, Carthage, Simpson, Minnesota, and SMU- apparently they all want me. 

I received this email from Babson College, who
is apparently on a first name basis with me. 

Or that's what I'd like to think. But I realized a long time ago, when I got emails from Brown and University of Virginia, schools that they don't really want me, as I'm not academically qualified. Rather they want my application. They are supposedly "impressed" with me, as Babson College is, shown to the right.

The college admissions process is a business in itself. Colleges and universities want their school to look better than other schools. They want their  U.S. News and World Report ranking to be higher. They want more applicants, regardless of whether of not they are qualified. They want to seem more prestigious.

Just take Claremont McKenna's recent scandal in which the school submitted false SAT scores to raise its ranking in The U.S. News and World Reports College Rankings. While the difference in the actual scores seems minimal, sometimes only 10 points, it still makes a difference in the rankings according to a New York Times article.  In the article, Robert Franek, the senior vice president of publishing for The Princeton Review, said, "10 points, 30 points to a student that isn’t getting that score on the SAT could be an important distinction." While this case may be specific to Claremont McKenna, its clear that colleges will do anything to look better. 

What do those college emails and letters mean to you? How do you think the business of college admissions and rankings affects high school students?