The College Admissions Arms Race Might Be Good for America

The most ambitious high school students, as early as age 14, are crafting ways to build companies and create their own projects simply to get into college. Is much of it performative and ingenuine? Yes. But consider the possibility that even if students are performatively building, the embracement of entrepreneurialism is the bigger story. 

The problem is clear. High school students recognize the incentive to create, but are not incentivized to make their projects last long term. Instead, they check a box. But the point is not whether students’ initial projects become successful: rather, entrepreneurialism becomes a learned, conditioned behavior. This will undoubtedly have long term spillover effects as students graduate and move into the workforce. I believe this will usher in a period of renewed American exceptionalism. 

Entrepreneurialism is crucial to encouraging long run economic growth, development, and job creation. A Kauffman Foundation analysis of U.S. Census data from 1977–2005 found that newly founded companies created an average of about 3 million jobs per year. In an era when AI threatens to wipe out entire industries, we need creators.