A letter from a reader: Stressing over admissions

March 19, 2008:

Tom Parker, the admission director at Amherst College, proclaims, "There are times when I want to just say I'm going to reject everybody with a Manhattan ZIP code" -- and then, somehow puzzled, wonders aloud why such applicants feel stress regarding college applications so great as to lead them to seek the help of independent counselors (feature, Dec. 12) . Having grown up with many such applicants -- many of whom, I might add, are profoundly gifted and brilliant -- I can only wonder how Mr. Parker fails to see the connection between his proudly anti-Manhattan attitude and the intense stress felt by these Manhattan applicants.  Mr. Parker is an admission director who finds applicants' concerns about college admissions "loony" -- perhaps he went into the wrong business?

JOSHUA ALEXANDER GELTZER '05
London, U.K.

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