My Prada handbag, Gucci Sunglasses and my Yale acceptance letter.

I can remember back to the college acceptance days… which is not always a pleasant flashback, because those few months were simply full of stress and tears, trying so hard to pitch myself to a board of faceless admissions officers who were to judge my worth from an essay and test scores.

Everyone in my high school took SAT prep classes and we were all determined to beat each other’s scores. This was the first time it was pointed out to me that SAT classes were an unfair advantage of the rich, and made it easier for those kids to get into college. As opposed to the kids who couldn’t afford extra prep, but needed high scores to obtain a scholarship.

I have found that having an SAT tutor was once something that was shameful, to admit you needed help was weak, but these days you are shunned if they aren’t one of your accessories.

I went to a college prep school and everyone was competing for top schools, especially when we found out that schools like Stanford and Yale only took one female and one male student. The thing that gets to me though, is how competitive it all is, and yes that spirit of competition is necessary, however if you applied to Brown twenty years ago with a 1200 and good extra curriculars you were in. So what happened? Well college attendance has increased dramatically and there has become a need to have a designer name school to match your designer brand life.

As a result of this change kids are being prepped for college freshman year of high school. Parents spend ridiculous amounts of money on tutor and special college coaches who run at hundreds of dollars an hour. How many kids did you know in high school who only participated in tons of extra curriculars and did community service so that they could write it on their college apps? I know I am guilty of it, I was an officer in the Interact club in high school and I hated it, but I did it for apps.

Kids just wrap themselves up with paper and ribbon to make them into the perfect package. Summers are now wasted on summer school and special educational camps instead of just frolicking around the block. I guess parents can reason that they are prepping their kids for the hard times of college, but they are really only stealing their last couple years of being a kid.