Andrew Ferguson > Quotes

“The word “holistic” is meant to distinguish their method from the purely numerical process at less-selective state universities or community colleges, where a committee will automatically admit any applicant with scores or grades above an explicit threshold. It’s a cagey word, “holistic,” borrowed from New Age yogis, Gestalt therapists, makers of herbal toothpaste, and other mystifiers whose prestige depends on your not being able to figure out exactly what they’re doing. A more practical and accurate term for holistic admissions is “completely subjective.” Kat”
― Andrew Ferguson, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College

“Evolutionary biology is imperialistic, overtaking entire fields of endeavor simply by attaching the prefix bio – or neuro -- to their names: bioethics, no comics, even, God help us, neurotheology. Its logic is deployed against helpless laymen as a bully's truncheon or an argument stopper.”
― Andrew Ferguson

“I think it was beginning to dawn on us that the kids could be damned one way or the other, depending on the school, on the composition of the committee reviewing the application, even on the disposition of an individual member of the committee. A”
― Andrew Ferguson, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College

“At its most intense, the admissions process didn’t force kids to be Lisa Simpson; it turned them into Eddie Haskell. (“You look lovely in that new dress, Ms. Admissions Counselor.”) It guaranteed that teenagers would pursue life with a single ulterior motive, while pretending they weren’t. It coated their every undertaking in a thin lacquer of insincerity. Befriending people in hopes of a good rec letter; serving the community to advertise your big heart; studying hard just to puff up the GPA and climb the greasy poll of class rank—nothing was done for its own sake. Do good; do well; but make sure you can prove it on a college app. So”
― Andrew Ferguson, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College

“I’m sure that’s okay for a magazine or a book,” he went on. “But this is the SAT. You can’t get away with that stuff on the SAT.”
― Andrew Ferguson, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College

“Women, churchgoers, and conservative were more likely than men, nonchurch goers, and liberals to disagree with the reductionist (neural) account of human life.”
― Andrew Ferguson

“The counselor was a dour and distracted man who showed little obvious interest in college or higher education of any kind, particularly as it pertained to my son. He”
― Andrew Ferguson, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College