If the limos were for high scores (SAT not football)

The first student chooses State University. Immediately, word spreads across campus, and high-fives are exchanged all around. “She’s a fine young woman,” exclaims a top university official. “And what stats! A 1520 on the SAT. A 4.0 GPA, including several advanced placement courses. She will boost the status of our chemistry department in a way that no one has for years!”

At the crosstown rival, they’re stunned. “We did all we could to recruit her,” says a professor, who asks not to be identified. “We flew her in on a private jet. Took her to the finest restaurants. You can’t win ’em all.”

Next to sign is another blue-chip prospect. Not just someone with the usual high GPA and SAT score. This one also has had six years of Arabic and an internship in the Middle East.

“We got him!” cries the chief recruiter for a top Ivy League school as soon as the student states his intentions.

[…]

On and on, the announcements come. Reporters scramble for quotes from family members. The sought-after students make brief remarks on how difficult their choices were.

Meanwhile, high school athletes go to after-school workouts as usual, dreaming, naively, that the public and media will one day place as much importance on throwing a football as on the skills that made these other students the center of attention. —Mike Revzin —If the limos were for high scores (SAT not football) (CS Monitor)

A student e-mailed me this link and suggested that I post it. Done.