Interesting that the NY Times used the words “Record Lows” in the title of this article on the the continuing increase in admissions applications at the nation’s top schools.
Remember, please, everyone, that scarcity lends itself to a higher valuation of the underlying commodity. In this case, I think I would use the word “overvaluation.”
Not that the top schools aren’t worth the tuition, mind you, but rather that the difference between what you get there and what you get at other schools might not be worth the — I don’t care if it’s overused, I love this turn of phrase — “irrational exuberance.”
Let me underscore this point by repeating the article’s quote of William M. Shain, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin: “Where we went to college does not set us up for success or keep us away from it.”