3/30/12

The Bad Competition in the College Admissions Process by Brennan Weiss

It is the time of year when everyone begins talking about where they will spend the next four years of their lives after high school. The college acceptance period, a one to two year stretch of pure stress coupled with anxious exhilaration, is a crucial time in the student's life. Whether it is that renowned Ivy, the university on the other side of the country, or the college right down the road, applying to college is highly competitive, but in all the wrong ways. Competition is an absolute necessity when it comes to admission counsels. What would a school be with no acceptance boundaries or limits? It would not be a highly sought, accredited post-secondary school- I'll tell you that. Plus, all schools are different. There are schools specifically for art, music, theater, separate majors, and yes, sports- but that's a rant I will save for another time. The point is schools seek different types of students who are skilled in different genres of academia or extra-curriculars, so schools must be able to reject, deny, wait-list, and accept as many students as they wish. This is the good type of competition that is healthy for society. The bad part is how revered the Ivy's are. Since when did applying to small, off-the-chart colleges trigger such distaste in people? The valedictorian or the students at least near the top 5% or 10% of their class must go to an Ivy league school, or they are failures. If you go to a school that doesn't get a lot of press, or is not nationally known, you are a just a good, average, or below average student. Great students near the top 10% of their classes are not supposed to go to these off-the-radar schools, because in today's overly pressurizing society, that's a sin. The banter, mocking, and bickering that goes on between friends and students during the college acceptance period is proof of the negative competition. Students attending schools that mainstream society has not heard of are suddenly dismissed by the public. When this middle-of-theroad student tells a friend or teacher his/her school of choice, the response is "Oh, good for you", with a condescending tone of disappointment. When a student attending an Ivy league school announces his/her choice, the response is, "Wow. That is unbelievable. What a great student you are." Students attending what I call "no-namer" colleges, meaning that not many people have heard of them, should not be ashamed of their choice. Many times, these no-namers have just as excellent athletic and academic programs as the country's top schools do. It should not be a competition

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amongst friends to get into a better-known university, for that shows nothing more than possibly a slightly higher GPA, or SAT/ACT score, which are outrageously weighted in the admission process, anyway. Do not mope around, complaining to your friends that you will go nowhere in life because you did not get into the Ivy league school of your dreams. Yet, at the same, do not dejectedly fret about going to a no-namer, or your hometown college. Either way, you should be content with the school you end up attending, keeping in mind that you are who you are, and if a college does not recognize your abilities or potential, screw them. All of this is not to say that if you worked to your full potential for four years in high school to get into an Ivy, and that was your goal all along, you should not be disappointed upon being rejected. You will get rejected in life, in many other, and most of the time more important circumstances, but it is your response that matters. Will you sulk and feel sorry for yourself, or make the best out of what you have accomplished, albeit in an undesired way? Quit judging others by the college they attend. For all you know, their grades could have been better than yours, but could only apply to certain schools because of family obligations or financial restraints. Many Ivy's and other well-known schools give little merit money, so while it is all well and good to attend these types of schools, the privilege comes with a pricy tag. This article is not meant to knock Ivy League schools or to demean the accomplishments of students who attend such schools, but I want to get the message across to students that a great education, comparable to many Ivy league schools, can be received through no-namers. It is an exciting time in the lives of many young adults, who are in the unique position of having a world of directions in which their lives can be taken, but they should not be compared or judged based on the schools they attend. Leave the sighs of disappointment for the students who choose to view no-namers as inferior schools and praise those who don't see the name of the university, but rather the name of the individual. Getting into college is hard enough. Students, parents, and teachers don't need to be making it any more difficult.