<p>you know, i am getting sick and tired of the college game. day after day, we, the citizens of the cc commmunity, bend over backward in our 15 ap classes, sweat bullets over our too low sat scores, base our entire existence upon the arrival of a fat envelope from a school that’s a member of a SPORTS LEAGUE. We work hard, we sleep way too little- all to be told that we- or i, really- have been doing it wrong all along. that our ec’s suck or are too disjointed, that we never took a trip to ghana or did research on the genetic structures of cockroaches or advanced to the national level in x or y activity.
we get on this site and compare ourselves to everyone, gauging the competition and feeling like our accomplishments are nothing compared to mr. 2400 /stu co, nhs, debate prez/part time cancer curer who’s applying to our school next year.
this is ridiculous. why isn’t it good enough to just do well in school, get your a’s and your high scores, and be a good person? why do you have some kind of trick or gimmick just to get into these schools, all for us to pay THEM $200,000?</p>
<p>Well, don’t blame the admissions officers. It’s really our fault. They have a limit to class sizes, and they’ll only pick the best. You can’t really blame them; instead, blame the people who apply to colleges they’ll never consider going to, and the people who encourage such ruthless competition.</p>
<p>Blame the people that apply to 15 schools decreasing the admission rates making it harder for us to attend school. The price isn’t the admissions teams fault but it is a huge problem. Schools in the UK, Canada, Europe charge very little to nothing for university. Some countries like Sweden don’t charge at all for uni, I think it’s sweden, maybe denmark, anyway thats not the point. The government should step in, financial aid isn’t enough, even upper middle class students shouldn’t have to pay a quarter of a million dollars to go to school.</p>
<p>that’s all they’re really looking for. people who do well and enjoy their work and still have time to do fun stuff in their spare time.
they’re not actually looking for people who sacrifice everything and bend over backwards to impress them.
and most people who get into those good schools probably don’t.
you’re just looking at college confidential, which is a pretty unrepresentative sample and mostly represents the really ambitious types.</p>
<p>fizix: yes, but who really achieves everything they want you to achieve without bending over backwards? i don’t know how it is where you live, but here, it’s a struggle. no one take’s a princeton review class for fun.
somni:exactly. but i appreciate the joke.</p>
<p>general comments: the government really does need to step up and make school more affordable for us. the prices for publics are even starting to get steep, and meanwhile there’s no guarantee that we’ll land a good job afterwards, or even be able to pay off that heap of debt. and now that a college ed has become the norm, getting further degrees are necessary to get ahead, which means even more debt. so we’re spending more on education to get a job, and that job’s wages probably won’t pay all that well since wages haven’t kept pace with inflation.
extra comment: some people have said i should apply to x or y school, just to see if i can get in. other people are doing the same. why? if you have no intention of going to x or y college, why are you even applying, which creates extra work for the adcoms (and probably adds up to that $75 app fee?)</p>
<p>^ There use to be a small “scare”, where some people believed that some colleges would waitlist those they thought were only using the school as a safety and would rescind their acceptance.</p>
<p>The limit should be 5 or 6 like schools in the U.K. That leaves room for 2 safeties, 2 matches, and 2 reaches. Make it easier for adcoms, yourself, and your peers and don’t apply to 10, 15, or 20 schools. </p>
<p>Someone on CC posted an article about twins getting 3 million dollars in scholarships, and one of them applied to 20 schools. Thats incredibly stupid, there is no way you are interested in absolutely every aspect of those universities.</p>
<p>Eh, I don’t see the point of this “movement”…it’s just part of the process if you want to get to the top schools. There’s nothing you can really do to counter it, unless you oppose the current system by giving up with college admissions and shoving it to the adcoms by enrolling in a community college. But I don’t think that would benefit anyone except for maybe some random kid that would get your potential spot at a better university. The best option now is to conform. I really don’t see anything wrong with the process. America is getting more competitive, other countries have been the same way for ages. It’s just an indicator to step your game up. </p>
<p>The only thing I can agree with you with is the financial situation. Tuition is absolutely ridiculous. I’m really glad that I’m not rich so that I don’t have to pay much for school. But application fees are still a pain. Also, I have no problem with people that sincerely apply to many colleges. If they can afford it and they put equal care into each application, more power to them; they have more security and more to choose from when April rolls around. A limit of 8 wouldn’t hurt though.</p>
<p>You know, things like playing the piano. Or sports. Or volunteering at homeless shelters. Or working on cool research projects.</p>
<p>These are supposed to be fun, you know. In fact, if you make it obvious you’re doing it just to fill up your application, colleges will despise you. Colleges only want the people with “passion”, i.e. who do fun stuff because it’s actually fun for them.</p>
<p>And fortunately, that’s what most people do these things for. You know – fun, challenge, making new friends…heck, I’m already in college and I’m going to take up singing because it’s awesome.</p>
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<p>I know plenty who’ve gotten into top schools, and they did work hard, but it wasn’t like every single move of theirs was directed towards getting into a good college. Well, some of them are like that. But lots of them aren’t.</p>
<p>fizix: but at least some moves, right? i mean for most people, i wouldn’t say this comes naturally. i’ll admit there are ec’s i do because i love, positions i run for because i genuinely think i can help the club or would be the best at. but you can’t tell me that in the back of your mind- or their minds- the college thing didn’t encourage these activities.
i’ll tell you what fun is, though. eating a pint of ben and jerry’s and watching politically incorrect comedy shows is fun. playing chess when your terrible at it is fun. heck, playing poker is fun, too, but you won’t see that on an app. it’s not a college marketable skill.
ps- i didn’t really mean i was STARTING a movement. i just wanted to make a statement. really, though- i’m suprised people don’t really feel the way i do about this.</p>