The dreadful cycle of college admissions starts every August and departs seniors’ lives with its final rotation on May 1st, preparing to ready its gears once more. However, the real game starts much, much earlier.
While junior year tends to bring bouts of college anxieties, some students start their processes, and worries, much earlier. With the American college admissions process growing more competitive and the way U.S. applications are structured, high school students start to scramble for impressive extracurricular activities and maximum course rigor as early as freshman year. A simple scroll through the A2C subreddit can illustrate the anxiety around the whole process.
American colleges and universities largely use a holistic admissions process, taking into account not only applicants’ grades and test scores but also their extracurriculars, their recommendation letters, personal statements, and pertinent background information.
However, in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere around the world, the admissions process is far different. In Korea, for example, one test administered annually can determine a student’s future. Outside of the U.S., admissions are overwhelmingly merit-based. Good test scores and good grades can often be all it takes to gain entrance to good schools.
One can’t help but wonder about the negative effects that the American system instills in students, especially if they start “preparing” for college at an age as young as 14. Teenagers start to embody their adult counterparts, fighting for a job. It seems to be more important for a student to open a LinkedIn account than to spend time with friends and enjoy being young.
The meaning of extracurriculars has changed. It is now is just another word for a jewel that makes the application shine. Furthermore, holistic admissions are often justified as a way for admissions officers to learn more about each student, but when students accumulate extracurriculars merely as a resume booster, it’s questionable that colleges are seeing the most authentic version of their applicants. As a result, many hardworking, successful students do not earn their well-deserved spot, even if their grades and test scores speak for themselves.
Merit-based admissions often raise the question of whether a college wants a well-rounded leader or a student who studies all day. In the U.S., high school students are told that admissions officers prefer that former to the latter. But the truth is, rarely can that be determined from an application, despite the effort that applicants put into presenting themselves as ideal candidates.
While extracurricular activities have the potential to illustrate a student’s leadership qualities and involvement, why must those factors be important to earning a good education? While those qualities are important to leading a successful life, the expectations are simply too high for teens. In cases that are not intertwined with extenuating circumstances, GPA and course rigor usually give an accurate measure of the student’s ability to succeed in college. Adding extracurriculars into the mix merely overfills the already heavy plate.
Another concern around prioritizing academic merit is that it is difficult to put into practice. Many colleges, especially Ivy League schools, practice legacy admissions and, as shown through exposed scandals, favor high income families. As a result, children of these high-profile families tend to have a significantly higher chance of acceptance.
Over 36% of Harvard’s Class of 2022 was made up of legacy students. With this disparity, there is less room for deserving students. Elite universities can afford to admit many excellent students — the problem is that they do not seem to particularly want to.
Grade-based admissions work in other countries. Canada’s college admission system, for example, relies heavily on a student’s GPA.
But, wait, that must mean there isn’t much value to being accepted to a Canadian university, right? In the U.S., we often see lower acceptance rates as a measure of quality. However, Canada’s top universities, such as University of Toronto and McGill University, are ranked higher than most universities in the U.S. while also admitting applicants at far higher rates.
Despite all of the weaknesses of the holistic process, it does offer one extremely important benefit. Colleges should take extenuating circumstances into account when evaluating the student. GPA, course rigor, and test scores do tell a good story for the most part, but a student should not be at a disadvantage if they were to be caught in the spiderweb of volatile events in life.
Regardless, the college application process is a milestone for seniors across the world, and only can we hope that one day the stress surrounding the ordeal lessens.
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Editors’ note: All opinions expressed on The Uproar are a reflection solely of the beliefs of the bylined author and not the journalism program at NASH. We continue to welcome school-appropriate comments and guest articles.
