Going off of the whole “passion” thing, I’d definitely agree with how unrealistic and limiting that expectation can be. As a high school student myself, I still have no idea what I’m truly interested in, let alone ~passionate~ about. For most kids, we just interpret demonstrating passion as a long term commitment to an activity but that requires forethought. You have to start early to accumulate years to show, but what if you don’t develop an interest until it’s too late to put meaningfully on your app? And what if you change your mind? I know students that have stuck with some activity that they’ve lost interest in simply so that their previous time commitments don’t “go to waste”.
I hate the high deferral rates in SCEA/EA that come from HYPM. I left the S out, because Stanford defers only around 750 from its REA round. Being deferred from Stanford “means” something. But HYPM sometimes defers 70+% out of its early round applicants. Why the need to string kids along like that?
I hate the amount of time involved in order to be a top level candidate that takes away from what should have been great years in high school. Family time is greatly compromised. There seemed to be a prideful rigor in the AP classes that involved assigning lots of pointless meaningless work. There was a thread over a year ago where students here discussed how much sleep they get per night. It truly made me sad. The average seemed to be 5 hours and one girl even described her trick for staying awake was to study standing up and that she would pinch herself from time to time when she got sleepy. I wanted to send that thread to our high school principal.
This article really represents the stress involved well:
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2015/03/25/guest-opinion-the-sorrows-of-young-palo-altans
A friend’s son made a comment that captured what my son feels as well; he said he hated how the mundane and pointless work involved in many classes was interfering with truly learning. Both these kids love to learn. I think they are autodidacts and they chafe at the tedium of our imperfect educational process.
- College websites don't provide consise summary about requirements, deadlines for application and fiancial aid in one or two pages so that students/parents can easily find. Sometimes we have to jump to 2, 3 different links to find all the necessary info.
- Some colleges require to fill out both CSS profile and their own FA application forms. Lots of information are duplicate. Some require document submission via IDOC, some require fax or mail. I wish we have less busy work.
I’ve been reading [this thread](What are your views on cheating? - High School Life - College Confidential Forums) about cheating, and it bothers me that the college admissions process seems to cause a lot of cynicism. Everyone’s motto is “snitches get stitches” unless the snitching could work in their favor somehow.
It’s stupid how much busy work they made me do in high school, which on top of my extracurricular activities and my almost nonexistent social life, gave me very little sleep throughout all four years of high school to make me a “competitive applicant”
I think it is a good idea to repeat what I edited in to the OP, for those that are already into this thread and wouldn’t see it otherwise:
So no matter how wrong you think another post is, and no matter how angry it makes you, don’t respond. Everyone now knows this is just a vent thread and so should take whatever is said for what it is, someone venting from their point of view. Thank you.
The stress associated with waiting for notification dates/times made worse by the schools that do not publish a specific date/time. It was much easier to wait for the dates and times published by the school at the get-go of their application process.
Back when I was still applying for college, I thought that perhaps the Common App, or the ACT or the College Board were what made me angry. But now, I’d say that the worst part is people’s assumptions about Affirmative Action once one has been accepted. Yes, I am Latina, and yes, I was accepted by a great LAC, and yes, Affirmative Action was probably helpful in the admissions committee decision. BUT I worked my butt off for 4 years. After I was accepted a lot of the people in my school implied that I only got in for being Latina (including my AP Lit teacher, who tried to assure our affluent, white, male valedictorian that he didn’t get into any of the Ivy’s or other selective schools because “they prefer less smart minority kids for publicity reasons”) I shouldn’t have to constantly prove to others that I deserve to be where I am right now.
My problem isn’t with the college admissions process itself, but with how people view it. Numbers-wise, I am not an excellent student. It’s a good thing, then, that many colleges aren’t as number crazy as a lot of posters on here. On paper, I look like an average kid with normal SAT scores, but my life has been anything but normal. My GPA is average, but I’m a published author and my teachers love me. I got a 3 on the AP Lang exam, but I can write poetry worth tearing up about. The fact that so many talented young kids are so focused on a four digit number-SAT score- means that these kids aren’t putting valuable energy into things they enjoy and truly care about.
- Collegeboard just all around stressing me out and making junior year a nightmare. It takes so much away from your high school experience to focus on your standardized test scores. I also feel that there is so much more to an applicant than their test scores, and find it absurd how much they are emphasized in the admissions process.
- People telling me that it doesn't matter if I am rejected from my top choice(s) and that I will go on to do great things regardless of what school I attend. I worked insanely hard in high school (and intend to again this senior year) so that I would have a better chance of getting in to whatever school I want. If I get in to my top choice, I will feel that my hard work paid off.
- College Board. Pay, pay, and pay some more, and they don't even teach you anything.
- Binding ED at public schools.
- EA (and ED, though we didn't go that route) decisions that come after the RD deadline for most schools.
- Different deadlines and decision release dates for every school. Why can't they just all agree on a date?
- The expectation of adult-level performance - and not just adult-level, but exceptional adult-level performance - in ECs to be "competitive."
- The pressure on these poor kids. Geez, can't they just grow up at a reasonable pace? Leave Britney Alone! Do your schoolwork, join some clubs because you like the activity, go to a college without everyone dissecting whether you made the best possible choice or not.
@bwuluv24 - It’s “shoo-in”. Pet peeve of mine that I have mentioned here before. And you are right to be mad that others think you can get into an Ivy league school just with average credentials. That is certainly not true.
I am probably in the minority, but nothing regarding the application process made me “ridiculously angry.” A bit time-consuming as we went through that with our daughter, but things are MUCH better than they were back when I was applying to college…everything typed on paper. I expect things that are important to take a bit of time.
Angry people.
The fact that coming from an affluent family, and therefore having the ability to make good “application-ready” high school years, matters more than actual talent or potential to achieve something exceptional in life.
The entire idea of doing anything because it “looks good to colleges” while having no interest in that activity whatsoever.
The importance of subjective measures, like the GPA/Class Rank.
As a student with a 3.5GPA and a 34 ACT, I may be a bit biased, but seriously…
I’m in the 75th percentile for every school on my list by test scores except UChicago, but my GPA makes all of the schools I am interested in reaches. Test scores are the definitive measure of whether or not you learned English and Algebra, reading comprehension, and analysis of trends (Science Reasoning). The GPA just measures whether or not you did your homework. I understand that they want to know their students are willing to bend over backwards to get into schools of their caliber, but my God- I’m no robot.
Equally frustrating is the scholarship search process. I am in the process of finding financial safety schools, but the only schools that will guarantee me anything significant are large Southern schools like UA. The other schools have ones that I am qualified for, but have no guarantee in getting anything. Basically they’re saying “Pay us $30-60 and a couple hours of your time for the CHANCE at getting some aid here.” That becomes increasingly more the chance as I look at better and better schools. It’s like, “Do I even apply to a school I cannot afford in hopes of scholarship?” It’s like playing the Lotto, but you’re losing a lot more than a scratch-off.
Also, if you want to get in the Ivies, and you hadn’t been working since middle school, you messed up.
If you didn’t take all honors, you messed up.
If you didn’t take every AP/IB available, you messed up.
If you don’t have a 4.0, you messed up.
I hate how inscrutable the process still is to me, in spite of having gone through it with both of my kids. And I’ve really come to hate the term “holistic.” And finally, this is totally irrational, but I hate that Brown rejected my son, when he applied there not because it was an Ivy, but in spite of its being an Ivy. He really, really liked the school. One of his friends, who will apply next year, remarked “Great school. Too bad it’s an Ivy.” I hope he has better luck than my son did!
The fact that state flagships ONLY care about GPA, even if you have a great SAT score, and the fact that they don’t care about whether or not you truly want to attend that school. OOSers with 3.75 GPAs and 1800+ SATs aren’t really going to pick UMass, sorry.
I hate the dumb rat race stuff…email the rep, the professor, the Dean, whoever to get yourself noticed. And as another poster said, the 16-17 year old who just needs to show their passion and they’re in! BS. No one I have ever known in my 51 years of life knew what they were passionate about at that age…except junk food, beer, music, movies, etc… It’s a stupid game, and your kid either plays it or not. The kids who play the game get in to great schools. The kids who don’t can still have a great experience, get a great education, and grow up to be successful adults.