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Studenets Struggle To Be More Than College Applications

By: Josh Devine, Mason Eastman and Addie Hagan

College applications generally consist of two main sections, the essay portion along with academic and personal achievements. In the essay, students have no more than 650 words to sum up who they are and everything they stand for. Their attributes and greatest stories are condensed into a singular paragraph with hopes that those few sentences will somehow separate them from the rest of the competition. Then, for academic and personal achievements, students are expected to provide schools with their grades, test scores and GPA, all of which are vital components of the application. At the end of the day, regardless of how diligently one has worked through their academic career, admission officers place their personal value equivalent to those few numbers on a paper. Applicants' futures are solely dependent on these few pieces of information, causing many students to face the internal and external conflict of becoming more than their application.

The process begins sooner than many antici- pate. The common misconception that junior year is the only time students should focus on college applications is an outdated, and in some cases, a self-sabotaging mindset. Many students, including senior Saba Fajors, wished they could have changed the time in which they began preparing.

“I definitely think I could have started earlier. I feel like a lot of my colleges I didn't put my best foot forward just because I was set on going to one school for a while,” Fajors said. “But that didn't work out and then I just rushed a bunch of my other essays. I definitely wish I started earlier, and I just researched a little bit more.”

Applying to college is a daunting task that lingers over students' heads through their time in high school. College counselors and teachers will try to aid students during this time by instilling good habits and techniques in them; despite their efforts, many con- tinue to struggle. Senior Anna Carpenter finds that the best way to navigate this process is to create a plan curated toward her goals.

“I made a list of schools that I wanted to apply early to, and I kept track of all their due dates and basically filled up my applications in terms of importance to me,” Carpenter said. “And then as I went along, I submitted them after I looked them all over.”

Rejection is undoubtedly the most discouraging part of the entire process. Even top-performing students with flawless GPAs are faced with this situation at one point or another along their journey. However, rejection isn’t necessarily indicative of one's qualifications or application.

“For some rejections, it was kind of like, oh, wow, that sucks.

However, for the colleges that I really cared about it hurt a lot,” Fajors said. “It really, really, really, really sucked and I just was disappointed and it's like you start reflecting you know, like, oh, like what did I do wrong?”

Grade Stigma

Being in high school is already a stressful time for students; it's the time to figure life out, take on responsibilities and be held more accountable. For most students, the most stressful thing about it is grades. When it comes to grades, it seems like they define your self worth and your future. Grades are always in the back of your head. We tend to see time and time again that grades define your success on whether you are good enough to get into the college or profession of your dreams.

According to The Three Penny Press, a high schooler spends 2.7 hours a day on average just to manage their grades. Students feel that even if they get a B on a test or class, that means they are a complete failure. The pressure to keep a 4.0 GPA is so intense and toxic for young students, most pressures tend to come from parents and students peers.

“I think this pressure that students put on themselves and comparing themselves to their counterparts is very unhealthy,” history teacher Riley Keltner said.

We see this when it comes to certain situations in a daily setting like classes, and when tests are being passed back, students ask what others scored to compare. As long as acceptance rate percentages decrease, the more toxic grades will become. When it comes to college and grades being the main determining factor for getting accepted, senior August Minkits disagrees with this system.

“Grades cannot be accurately applied as a representative of a person's intelligence, capability and competency on their own,” Minkits said.

Extracurriculars

The 2:30 bell rings and students flood out of their classrooms. Some run to their cars, some go to their jobs, but others go to extracurricular clubs and meetings. The idea of an extracurricular has changed dramatically from what it used to be. Fun after school get-togethers have turned into highly competitive and sometimes exclusive communities that can make or break your college decisions.

“Any teacher or college counselor will say, it looks a lot better when you have other things in your transcript. Just things like grades in colleges these days, they don't want to see straight A pluses,” sophomore Georgia Bland said. “They want to see what you are, they don't want to just see a student who knows how to study, they want to see a student who knows how to get involved who knows what their passions are and knows what they want to study.”

From what used to be a very impressive accomplishment, getting a perfect 4.0 and taking a high number of AP classes is now seen as a prerequisite for some colleges, and extracurriculars are needed to set yourself apart and above other applicants. Even if you are a well involved person, the top colleges are still looking for

75 more and being in only a few clubs has been deemed not enough.

“The standard these days is so high, like if you're not in every club then it’s a no, and if you're in every club you still won't get into some of these colleges, you have to be the president of every club, almost so,” Bland said.

49 Percent of students don't enjoy the topics they learn and classes they take

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The standards for the top colleges are ever changing, leaving students and counselors left to play a guessing game. This is a hard game to play and it's necessary for students to start becoming involved early in their high school careers. Although it's good to get started early, it's never too late to become more involved in your passions later on. However some upperclassmen, including junior Emmy Bassett, feel it's not that simple.

“I think once you start to become a sophomore, junior, senior, it's definitely harder to start and join clubs,” Bassett said. “There's more of a stigma of being the odd one out and like, you know, joining too late.”

4.8

15 Thousand students were admitted into the Ivy's on average

Overall, it's important for students to keep an open mind about clubs and extracurriculars. Although some can be demanding, school clubs are what you make of it. The pressure to be high achieving and involved can be overwhelming, so it's important not to step outside of one's comfort zone. Students should follow their passions and try to ignore the outside pressures.

“Join what you're interested in, try them out,” Bassett said. “There's no harm in going to one meeting and if you hate it, you never go back. No one's gonna judge you but it's good to see your options.”