News Ending Extracurricular Privilege The Atlantic profiles Professor Richard Weissbourd's efforts to encourage more trends holistic college admissions Posted December 21, 2016 By Richard Weissbourd "The college-application process, always a bit of a rat race, has in recent years become ever more tortuous and with an ever-dwindling piece of cheese at the end. High-school seniors and their families are seeing elite schools’ admission rates plummet, so they are applying to more and more colleges, spending hundreds on admissions fees, and piling on activities to get an edge. “When people are anxious, it’s easier to latch onto quantity rather than quality,” Weissbourd says. Many high-schoolers do volunteer, but to Weissbourd, it seems the public service doesn’t always come with pure intentions. Many well-heeled students find themselves in a "community-service Olympics," as he calls it, jetting off to an exotic country to build houses for a week and signing up to be treasurer of five or six clubs when they return. “One of the things we're saying is that it doesn't advantage you to go to Belize,” he said. “It's just as good to work in a local soup kitchen....”" Read more at The Atlantic News The latest research, perspectives, and highlights from the Harvard Graduate School of Education Explore All Articles Related Articles Education Now Making College Attainable What higher education institutions and policymakers can do to open the doors and put more students on the path to college and a degree Education Now Transition from High School to College for the Pandemic Generation With the disruption of the last two years, what should counselors, educators, and parents be considering when preparing students for college? News Higher Ed. at Harvard Event Addresses Looming End of Affirmative Action A panel of three experts weighed in on what higher education can do in the wake of a pending Supreme Court ruling