Horace Mann and College Admission

Horace Mann and College Admission October 12, 2013 How do you think college admissions counselors perceive Horace Mann? Yesterday, we wrote about the scandal at Horace Mann, a prestigious private school in New York City. To recap, a student at Horace Mann sent a disparaging letter about another student to a number of college admissions offices (presumably at the colleges the student has intentions of applying to). Of course, this is surely not the first time that a high school student has done such a thing. Theyre high school students, after all! Anyhow, Horace Mann has had quite the reaction to the vindictive letter. Theyve had a meeting with seniors and theyve sent a letter out to students and parents of students stating how this does not reflect the school and how this behavior cannot be tolerated. Unfortunately for Horace Mann, Business Insider, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine among other news outlets have all published accounts of the scandal. This is not good press for the school. As stated in a letter from the Horace Mann college counseling office to seniors and parents of seniors, When a member of our community does something so egregious, it makes people question whats happening here. It feeds the perception that we are hypercompetitive to the point of being unhealthy. This isnt a good message for our students, our families, or for people who are on the outside looking in. Certainly, college admissions officers are included in this last group. It seems the college counseling office at Horace Mann is doing some PR damage controlbig time! Do you think that their intentions are good? Do you think that theyre too concerned with how others view them? Or do you think that they have good intentionsthat they genuinely think its disgusting that one of their students would do such a thing? Lastly, do you think they were surprised that one of their students would do such a thing? We dont! But were curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.