The wonderful world of college apps!

Thought: Senior year is more difficult than it needs to be. What with college applications, the "most challenging curriculum available" at my high school, college applications, "leadership roles" in extracurricular activities, college applications, standardized tests, scholarship applications, and college applications, a senior gets to wondering whether going to the best school possible is worth it -- wouldn't it be easier just to apply to State U like everyone else for a stress-free year? Then, the senior gets to wondering why each aspect of the application is necessary "to get a complete and accurate view of the applicant as an individual."

Now, I don't know about you, but if I could sacrifice some aspects of the application process in exchange for hours upon hours of my time, knowing that no other applicant was gaining an advantage over me, I would make that trade in a heartbeat. The self-serving colleges don't care whether you get in, they care about what their closs, as a whole, looks like. THe process has become institutionalized, and the reason for making the application more complicated is not to better understand the applicant, but to block out those applicants who are not truly interested in attending the university. THe application itself has become the first screening program of the elite universities. Now, I understand the college's need to maximize matriculation rates, and to get a more diverse class, but I believe that more transparency is necessary in the process, and there should be accountability afterwards.

When applying for a job, the applicant knows what the employer is looking for. If you are rejected, you are told why. You can try again later, after improving your portfolio. In the past generation, biases and prejudices have factored in less and less into whether you get a job. In direct contrast, an applicant to college has no idea what the college is looking for: well-rounded or focused? Toughest curriculum no matter what, or straight A's? Casual essays or formal ones? How arbitrary are decisions? And most of all: what are my chances of getting in?

Colleges need to publish more detailed statistics about the acceptance rate. The overall acceptance rate tells most students absolutely nothing. It would be more beneficial to students, and possibly even to colleges, if colleges woud publish in .pdf or .xls format their acceptance rates for each SAT score, for each state, for each rank in class (Penn actually published this), for each gender, for each economic group, and (the most politically charged, but one of the greatest determining characteristics), for each race or ethnicity. This would help alleviate the mystery and anxiety surrounding the college process, prove the colleges' statements when they say there is only a higher percentage of Early students admitted because they are "a stronger pool overall"(BS), and disprove Harvard College's assumption that the advantaged students benefit more from Early Action. Although I see how Early Decision benefits the rich (it is a binding contract, before viewing the aid package), I fail to understand how getting applications in early benefits the rich, if the college claims that an applicant gets no benefit from applying early in the admissions process.

I need to wrap up this rant. My Emory application is calling.