When a lot of people want something, they'll all race to get it. This "first in line" feedback loop, however, can end up causing a detrimental race to the bottom - all in the service of making it to the top.
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Rat Race to the Bottom
For 5 of the last 10 years, I've woken up on Thanksgiving morning and traveled down to the Upper West Side to watch the Thanksgiving parade in person. Being the most famous parade in the nation's largest city, I was never alone in this endeavor - and I'm not even talking about the out-of-towners. In total,a little under half the normal population of New York City comes out to watch the parade in person.
When there's that many people lining a parade route that's only 2.5 miles long (that might sound long, but trust me, it's not when you pack 3.5 million people along that distance) good viewing space comes at a premium. With the parade starting at 9am, the official parade information advises spectators to get to the parade route by 7am to get a good spot. Since I was often staking out space for more than just myself, I would try to get down there a little earlier than that - usually between 5:30am or 6:30am. As ungodly as that hour may seem on Thanksgiving Day, even when I showed up to Central Park West at 5:30am, I was never the only one already lining the route, not by a long shot.
With the officially disseminated "suggested arrival time" being 7am, many people aim to get out ahead of the crowds and shoot for 2 or more hours before the suggested time they show up. Each year I went in person, there would be more and more people already set up by 5 or 6. I can't help but wonder when enough people will catch on to this trend to drive the early arrival time to 3 or 4 in the morning. When you're grouped together with 3.5 million other people, you're never the only one doing or being anything. If there's enough people out there who want to ensure they get a good spot for the parade (no matter the cost), then come 4am in some not-too-distant future, the parade route will look the way it does at 6:30am now.
This race to get "ahead of the crowd" doesn't just apply to parades, amusement parks, or vacation travel, though - at least, not anymore. Most every aspect of our lives has been "gamified", optimized, and turned into a race against the masses. This is perhaps most pervasive in the world of career development, specifically early career development... and specifically college admissions and other career preparation.
Whether someone is trying to get into Harvard or play major league baseball, there's never been a more complex and elaborate set of steps they have to go through in order to hone themselves into what they think is the best possible candidate. It's never started earlier, either. Was I aware in high school that playing sports and being in the band would make me a more "well-rounded" and potentially appealing applicant to colleges? Of course - I think we all have a certain self-awareness when we do "good" or "meaningful" or "cool" things. A sense of "oh yeah this'll look great on my CV/linkedin/college essay/instagram".
I did those things because I wanted to, though, and, for what it's worth, I can't see how spinning a cross country track experience into a college essay about overcoming adversity can hold a candle to someone's experiences overcoming actual adversity, but perhaps at the cost of being able to run cross country track after school.
Nevertheless, "making it" in life is increasingly becoming a series of checklist items, rather than meaningful accomplishments that bring actual diversity and richness to our lives and to society. If you want to make it in the majors, then you have to start that journey by middle school at least; playing in the right travel leagues and going to the right tournaments. Likewise for anyone who wants to become a business executive - you'd best be starting by kindergarten.
Why have all of these things become so competitive and transactional? For the same reason I'm not the first one to the Thanksgiving parade route when I show up there at 5:30am - a full 3.5 hours before the parade even starts! If you really want something - and want to make sure you get it - you'll do whatever is necessary, be that sitting on Central Park West in the cold for 4 hours, or traveling up and down the Northeast Corridor every weekend with a travel baseball league.
As you might imagine, all of the participants in this race are not equally capable of winning it. When success is measured in checklist items, the wealthier participants always have it easier. Take a look at the competition for elite private kindergarten programs in New York City, for instance, or families that have consumed themselves in debt in order to send a child to the college they've always dreamed of attending.