There are a few things that frustrate me within the college application process.
1 - There is nothing that makes you feel as hopeless as the financial aid departments do. After hours of explaining and trying to negotiate, some schools (including your top choice) are simply unaffordable.
2 - I also dislike scholarships that are not based on need or merit. For example, I would not qualify for a scholarship given only to a person of Hispanic descent. Instead of just giving the scholarship to someone due to the culture they were born into, make the scholarship “For the President of the Hispanic Club” or something more “available” to every single student.
3 - People judge you based not only on where you are attending college, but where you got in as well. For instance, I applied to four schools that most people would consider “elite”. With a class rank of 2/394, decent SATs, and many ECs, I was admitted to none of the “elites” (and I totally was not expecting to get in to any). In another case, a student in my school (class rank of 3/394, so-so SATs, and barely any ECs) was admitted to MIT. To me and my peers, it was shocking knowing that this non-athlete student was accepted with a 1900 on their SAT. To all the parents in the audience at graduation, however, this student was the most genius person ever.
Overall, I wish colleges would place more emphasis, if not all, on the things you can control.
I can’t control being born Caucasian.
I can’t control having the genes for average height.
I can’t control that my parents didn’t go to the schools I applied to.
Others can’t control being born as a URM.
Others can’t control having six-foot-eight genes.
Others can’t control what schools their parents went to, either.
10 percent is still not small.
Plus, there was an article that said 1/5 of accepted students in one of Ivy leagues was legacy applicants. That says something about legacy’s advantage
The fact that we can’t empathize with others and say:
"Man, I didn’t get in "
“Man, that sucks! I know you really wanted to attend that school.”
Instead of saying:
"Man, I didn’t get in "
“Well at least YOU had (insert controversial topic of choice). I didn’t get that advantage.” OR
“You just applied there for the prestige anyways.”
A rejection is a rejection- no matter the reason for applying- and rejections suck.
People with a lot of money have it easier into top colleges. A) Tutors B) Can take tests multiple times C) Parents can afford to let them do various sports, and pursue hobbies. That’s why I’d like it if it was class based affirmative action.
One thing that extremely bothers me about that Admissions process is the overhaul expected of us highschoolers. The admissions process is based so strongly on GPA and Ranking that if you din’t take the right classes in EIGHTH GRADE you’re basically out of the running for top schools. My freshman year I opted not to take all the Pre-Ap and AP classes, I took about 2, and every year I increased the amount. Schools expect us to manage an extremely rigorous schedule, have 4-6 EC, in which you have to have some type of leadership position in, and then they also want to make sure you have the perfect ACT/SAT score, a score that barely even defines your quality as a candidate. Luckily I managed well enough to be in the top 6%, but it just makes my skin crawl that I could be refused admission to top tier schools just because I didn’t overhaul myself and allowed myself to grow up in a healthy lifestyle.
Furthermore, since I’m ranting, it is completely ridiculous that the application process is riddled with fees. Why do I need to pay 40$ overtime I want to send one of my scores to a college? Did I not pay your company 60$ to take a paper test? And since (Just guessing here) the test probably costs 10$ at most to produce and ship, and sending a score report to any college is comically cheap, why do I need to be charged? You are already profiting off the tests, why pinch every penny from my pocket? Also, colleges do not need to request that I pay to even apply! SO your telling me if I get rejected, you just take my money and say “sorry?” Thats ridiculous! And if you are accepted, where does that money go? Definitely not to my tuition, because Lord forbid that would ever happen. Colleges are basically telling us that we have to have a money tribute to even get their interests. DOn’t they realize we will be paying them for the next 10-20 years of our lives? Ugh, the whole process is rigged with hidden fees like this and it just bothers me to a whole new extent.
I echo almost all the complaints in this thread! Bravo!
I will add a small beef about the complaints regarding athletic admissions, having had one very successfully go through that process, and having researched it extensively.
Sporting events and (preferably good, winning) teams at a college is a revenue-enhancer for the college even if the teams do not generate profits during their seasons (i.e., D3 schools or non-revenue D1 sports).
Many potential applicants prefer to attend colleges with good teams and that intangible “school spirit/fun campus” feel that accompanies sporting events. Athletics tend to bring the student body together more than other types of campus events (yes there are schools where this is not true, but by and large it is the case). This leads to more applications and higher selectivity stats.
Alumni donations are typically higher at colleges offering sports. Sports bring alumni back to campus to cheer on their old teams. Alumni remember that school spirit/fun campus and think fondly about their college days. I recall reading an internal report generated by a college that decided to go from D3 to D1, which cited numerous studies showing that alumni donations increase exponentially at colleges offering winning athletics, and especially D1 athletics.
Like it or not, employers love student athletes. It’s like they have been pre-vetted for time management skills, teamwork skills, discipline, etc. So colleges know that these students will place well and more likely improve their “x% of our students are employed at graduation” stats.
So, even at elite colleges, it is of some economic value to seek out and recruit athletes that will make the team stand out in its conference and enhance the desirability of the college, as well as increase alumni donations.
@michelle426 Colleges check rank to check what GPAs really mean from school to school. You might go to a school where everyone who tries gets an A in everything, and have a 3.5 and ranked 50/200. Another student might go to an extremely hard grading school and have a 3.4, but ranked 10/200 because it is very hard to get high grades there. All else being equal, I am taking the 3.4 kid if I am an admissions officer. I’m not saying that this situation necessarily applies to you, but that is the purpose of rank. Not all schools are equal
@prospect1 Exactly. Also in regards to admission, playing a varsity sport at my school probably requires the time commitment of joining at least 10 clubs. I don’t think too many clubs require about 20 hours per week practicing and playing, plus more outside practice in the offseason. I’m biased because I am an athlete, but I would consider being a 3 sport varsity athlete as some of the best ECs an applicant can have, even if they had nothing else.
Honestly? I can’t say that there was anything that I particularly ‘hated’ about the application process. I’d have rather not paid the application fees, but it is what it is. It was all fairly straightforward in my own experience. I tend to obsess over these kinds of things significantly less than other people do though. I think some people worry entirely too much about developing a good college application and neglect to develop as a person…which is what college admissions is really looking for.
Application fees exist to prevent kids from applying to every school possible. Its not really a problem because if you don’t have the money to pay the fee a college will give you a fee waiver
Basically echo everything on this thread, ESPECIALLY how early you have to start and AA. I’m all for giving a leg up based on socioeconomic status, but NOT race. Yes, race and SES are correlated, but I’ve personally seen too many cases where URMs gained admission instead of more qualified Asian and white classmates with the same socioeconomic statuses but higher test scores, ranks, grades, etc. Doesn’t sound fair at all to me.
But hey, this is CC, where anecdotes and isolated incidents mean nothing and have no truth behind them.
You may not LIKE application fees but you WANT application fees. That dream college that you’re targeting with your finely honed application? Do you want it to be lost in a sea of 50,000 applications from every tom, dick or harry? Nope. Nor do you want your guidance counselor to be filling out the 30 application requests from each of his/her students either. Because then, he or she will only give you 29 seconds to do assist you with yours.
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