College Admissions is less about an assessment of you than about fitting into a colelge's agenda. College admissions is not about you, the prospective student or parent of a student, it’s about the college. It’s not about being “worthy,” per se, it’s more about fitting into a college’s agenda, whatever that might be. This again is where a college’s agenda—and not the talent or accomplishments of students—drives the search buy. A college isn’t looking to send mail only to straight-A students who scored a 1500 or higher on the SAT. Campuses have certain needs—more men, more minority students, more English majors, more students from five states away—priorities they attempt to fulfill by buying names fitting those criteria. “Elite colleges are there to create a set of people who are going to be productive together and in concert with each other,” A rejection then is not about you; it’s about what a college needs the year you apply. The baffling process you face is ultimately not a judgment about you or your potential. How colleges define the worthiness of applicants tends to shift over time based on the institution’s needs. At the most selective colleges—where spaces are few and demand high—the definition of merit has changed substantially over the last half century largely to preserve the social order and the interests of those in power. While applicants see a rejection as a judgment of their life’s choices and accomplishments, Mark and his colleagues view a denial simply as weighing one institutional priority over another. “Think not just about ‘Is this a great student?’ but what a great class looks like. It’s about what we’re looking for. That’s what’s going to determine who stays as an admit and who goes down a step or two.” [[ED serves colleges more than students]]