The Struggle Is Real free essay sample

The Struggle is Real Over the past several decades, standards for college admission have increased dramatically. And although extraordinary credentials used to guarantee one admission into the university of their dreams, it is sad to say that they no longer do. Nowadays, even the valedictorian who lettered in three sports while serving as class president all four years of high school is not promised entrance into his or her dream school. The number of able, talented high school seniors is rising rapidly every year, and while there is room for all of them to continue their educational pursuits, their most desired schools cannot accept everyone. Admission officers across the country must sift through thousands of applications to weed out those who gain admission, and those who do not. Colleges and universities maintain strict policies on the criteria for the acceptance of applicants, some of which include academic achievements, community service, extracurricular and/or recreational activities, and the required admissions essay. We will write a custom essay sample on The Struggle Is Real or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This process can be substantially exhausting and anxiety-filled for young men and women. Too often, high school students possess tunnel vision when it comes to college admission, viewing every advanced placement course as merely one more hill to climb until they finally reach the end of the line. Instead of pursuing their genuine interests, too many students deem it more effective to take rigorous, courses in the sole hope that it would look better on their applications and put them ahead of potential candidates. â€Å"I think that the focus is sad, says Clinton Foster, an admissions officer at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. At that point, a high school education becomes a resume of accomplishments, rather than a process of personal development. Students should be able to evaluate how they’ve grown as a person, as well as list their achievements. † (Foster) If a student is passionate about music, or theater, they should pursue it, rather than worry about how it’s going to look as opposed to taking Advanced Placement calculus. Today, most high school students seem to assume that the apex of their young lives is finding out whether or not they were admitted to their top choice university. Winning admission to an elite educational institution is too often seen as a golden ticket to success, and a failure to do so can often result in a quite traumatizing experience for the applicant. But could it be that admission to Harvard or Yale was a guarantee of success? Two researchers, Alan Krueger and Stacy Dale began to investigate this question and discovered an astonishing attribute of their research. They found that students chose to attend â€Å"less appealing† colleges earned, on average the same income as graduates form ivy-league caliber institutions. Likewise, another reason college admission is too competitive is that millions of deserving, capable candidates are repudiated from the universities of their choice every year. High school seniors are thrown into this high pressure, high stress lottery that could potentially affect the brightest of this generation. During a college admission seminar in Baltimore, Liz Bowie said, â€Å"The admissions frenzy is in part a matter of raw numbers. Most highly selective colleges accept a third or fewer of their applicants and the Ivies take fewer than 15 percent. Harvard accepted only 7 percent this year. (Bowie). With a record number of high school graduates applying each year, colleges can be extremely selective over the smallest details. When asked about the selectivity of today’s admissions process in terms of the well-rounded individual, Steve Cohen said â€Å"And why are â€Å"unhooked white girls† finding it especially tough? â€Å"Because there are so many high-achi eving girls who have studied hard, participated in all the right activities, and expected the top colleges to appreciate their efforts,† said Scott Farber, president and founder of A-List Education and a test-preparation and admissions expert. Do they deserve to get in? Sure. Would they do well if admitted? Absolutely. But colleges are not looking for the well-rounded kid; they want the well-rounded class. And unless you are a superstar in some area, you’re just one of thousands of smart, all-around, but unhooked white girls. It may be unfair, but that’s life. † (Cohen). As Cohen indicates, a well-rounded student is merely a number. They are just one among thousands who posses identical grades, community service hours, and varsity letters. Theoretically, the college application process can never be truly fair, as in a perfect world, every student with the appropriate credentials would be admitted to the university of his or her choice. â€Å"Part of the problem [with admissions] is that there are so many qualified applicants applying to the same colleges,† said Cohen. â€Å"It is simple math: more applicants for the same number of seats means a lower percentage of accepted students. † Lastly, the process of college admission is far too competitive because at most universities, international applicants, or out of state applicants receive greater priority than local students. The University of California, Berkeley recently noted a forty three percent increase in the admission of out of state and out of country schools. There are several reasons colleges choose to do this. First, international and out of state students are forced to pay heftier fees than local domestic students. This acceptance of foreign students could be to compensate for the effects of decreased state funding and large scale pay cuts. â€Å" This year Brown admitted students from 80 different countries, with China edging out Canada as the largest source. At Princeton, international students represent 12 percent of the admitted class. (Cohen). Although it would be valid to say that recruiting more and more out of state students would make it easier for the university to support local students, I believe that if a local student possesses the required credentials for a certain university, he or she should have the exact same probability of gaining admission than an out of state student. T he process of college admission is certainly not what it used to be. Until about 1980, if an applicant possessed decent transcripts, a clean record and some sort of extracurricular activity, he or she was almost guaranteed admission to the university of their choice. The reason college admission is too competitive is because it often does not allow students to explore their own interests, as some would rather take classes that look better on their resume, instead of learning about what makes them happy. Students should have this freedom because after all, high school is a time of self- discovery. Similarly, the admissions process is too competitive because thousands of deserving seniors get denied from their dream schools every year despite all the hard work and dedication they put in during their high school career. If a student works diligently for four years of high school, he or she should be rewarded regardless of how other around them do. Likewise, another reason that today’s college admission process is unfair is because of universities accepting a much larger sum of international and out of state students. If a child desires to go to a university in his or her hometown and has the grades and extracurricular activities to do so, he or she should be able to. It is unfair for that child’s spot to be taken by an international student who is going to generate more revenue for the school. So next fall when anxious seniors are nervously mailing in their applications, they should beware of the perils that have left millions of adolescents disappointed and distressed. Works cited Kingkade, Tyler. California Universities Use Out-Of-State Students To Plug Budget Hole, Following National Trend. The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost. com, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. McCollum, Sean. The College Chase. Literary Cavalcade 57. 6 (2005): 20-21. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Cohen, Steve. Who Got Into the Countrys Top Colleges? The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 04 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.