Every year, millions of high school students just like North Collins Senior Tayton Troidl embark on the journey known as the college application process.
The process is often tedious, with schools encouraging students to nearly boast about AP and honor courses, ACT and SAT scores and their number of extracurricular and community service hours.
For many students like Tayton, working during high school was his extracurricular. The aspiring video game designer spent as many as 30 hours a week working at a local video game store and he feels that should play a big role in his college application process.
“I think there are many different factors that can play into what happens at home and what happens at school,” Tayton told 7 Eyewitness News.
But a Harvard-based study is looking to change the admissions process. The “Turning the Tide” project is a collaboration between Harvard and several other colleges and universities. The goal - to reduce achievement pressure among high school students and also level the playing field for economically diverse students, students like Tayton.
“I’ve wanted to do it ever since I was a kid it’s really the only thing I’ve ever seen myself doing."
The new report, sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, suggests several changes such as de-emphasizing standardized test score, factor in family and community responsibility, and stressing the quality over quantity of extracurricular and advanced classes.
But experts say any changes suggested by the report may not be in effect in time for the graduating class of 2016.
Stay in Touch Anywhere, Anytime with News, Weather and Video -- Download the WKBW app:
Or Sign Up for Our Newsletters -- Delivered to Your E-mail:
