New York Times Columnist Addresses College Admissions Mania

Frank Bruni, a columnist for The New York Times, visited Stuyvesant on Tuesday, March 3, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Murray Khan Theater to speak about the growing belief that a student’s future starts and ends with an Ivy League education. The talk was organized by the Stuyvesant Parent’s Association and hosted by co-presidents David Venderbush and Lynn Chen During the lecture, Bruni used excerpts from his book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,” as well as anecdotes about successful men and women, to convey his belief that our society places too much emphasis on the college admissions process.

Bruni, a graduate of both the University of North Carolina and Columbia University, has worked in various positions for The New York Times and has written books about topics including cuisine and politics. “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be” was released on March 15, 2015, and currently resides on The New York Times Best Sellers list in Hardcover Non- Fiction.

Bruni began his talk by reading an email he had received from a high school senior who was going through the college process at that time. The email showed an example of a student who felt a great amount of pressure about how the college she would attend would determine her life, introducing Bruni’s point that college is incorrectly perceived as a deciding factor in making or breaking someone’s entire career.

Bruni went on to say that the “system is broken” and asked the audience whether the process is helping or harming to a child. “We are sending an extremely dangerous message that once you get into a good college you're home free,” Bruni said in the lecture.

Bruni incorporated both statistics and stories about well-known people such as author John Green and Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks Howard Schultz, who exemplify the concept that it is possible to reach high levels of success in ways other than attending Ivy League universities.

One point mentioned was that a large number of people listed as MacArthur Genius Grant Award winners, a highly regarded competition for excellence in different academic backgrounds, attended colleges such as Louisiana State University and the University of Maryland, schools that are not as widely praised in the general media. These successful people were able to use their colleges to gain skills such as better communication and confidence that eventually led to more opportunities in their individual fields. These examples support Bruni’s assertion that the discourse surrounding college is incorrect. “We should not have conversations about how to get into college, but how to use college,” Bruni said.

Many parents found the lecture to be a refreshing and eye-opening experience. “I think it’s a wonderful relief that the idea is being presented that we should go back to placing our kids in schools that are the right fit for them. He is debunking the false marketing of colleges, as elite schools are manufacturing these ratios of acceptance,” Stuyvesant parent Terry Rosen said.

Others believe this lecture was only the beginning of a long battle against tradition. “I think this lecture will have a very small effect because we are up against a huge tradition of pressure to go to name brand schools and by having one talk on one evening with only 400 people in the audience will have a tiny effect. The pressure to go to the most exclusive schools you can go to which has been built up over 20 or 30 years is not going to change very much in one night, but it’s a start,” Venderbush said.

After the lecture, a question and answer session took place between the audience and Bruni, questioning some of the ideas presented in Bruni’s argument. In one case, junior Roz Joyce asked Bruni whether there was a difference in the caliber of peers in elite and non-elite universities. Bruni responded by stating that in many cases less regarded colleges have a more diverse population, creating a better environment for a student. Bruni went on to say that because students at these elite universities have become so accustomed to receiving opportunities, the level of their interest and appreciation of certain academic benefits is not as prominent.

Despite the controversy, Bruni stood by his point that although college is important, it is not a deciding factor in a person’s career. “We’re defining best in one way. Were completely equating exclusivity with quality. And that’s just nuts,” Bruni said.