College Admissions Suck

College admission suck. As you can probably guess from this title, I'm going to be talking about college admissions. For many, college admissions start way back from elementary school; when  parents are enrolling their kids in activities with the hopes that they will develop into great skills or talents or last be something to add onto a resume. Sound familiar? They will also enroll kids in sports so that they can get on Varsity in high school and maybe even play at a collegiate level. For others, they just fill out some apps and don't really care that much about college. College apps can get really stressful, with more and more students applying to the top-level schools and with increasing numbers of international students, it doesn't help. Yes, college admissions suck. But no matter what, people need college because college educations allow people to progress further and make money and support themselves.

For me personally, it was rough. I mean, I had tardies and I had to seriously procrastinate for a few assignments. It was a good thing I had a clear direction and started with my Common App essays over the summer. I knew what direction I was going and where I wanted to apply and what I needed. I took my SAT's and ACT's, or ACT because I took it once, and went ahead with the next step. So yes, I was having a lot of fun first semester doing my college stuff while balancing grades and of course extracurricular commitments. Of course I also made some free time for myself and work on other things like this website, and checking the stock markets. And yes, all that hard work did pay off. Yes, those sleepless nights and days where I did my homework anywhere I could o free up more time did pay off. Ya boi's going to his dream college UPenn Wharton Business School. Yay, fanfare and fireworks! But enough about me. 

So let's talk about these issues. One of the biggest issues is race. Let me just say that I'm not here to trigger anyone. Let this be a disclaimer or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, I do think that it is unfair to look at race I mean, recently Harvard got sued for its racial quotas on Asians (wan't the first time Harvard discriminated against others). So it it really fair that promising individuals who actually have much to achieve are denied because of race. No. Everyone claims that there are so many factor in consideration like socioeconomic status and family history. Ok. So then why not just look at them? Why not just forgo the race part? Who cares if you're of Hispanic or White or whatever? We should be looking at people within groups. That doesn't mean that race shouldn't be reported, because obviously colleges need statistics. So one of the problems is disenfranchisement of minorities. What about Native American descendants? Does that mean they don't deserve an extra leg? Well, no. So then...? The problem is now that others feel like race is being used against them, especially at these higher-level colleges. Again, Harvard and other Ivies are dealing with this issue. Income shouldn't be judged either. You can be a poor man but if you just don't have the potential and haven't done as much as your peers versus a rich man who has done so much more than his peers, you don't deserve to go. The key is looking within groups based on socioeconomic factors versus within racial groups. That inflates competition between some groups for no reason because income levels vary within race groups. Look at people within a local area and the backgrounds to determine if you get in. I know people who weren't as qualified as other people who got into Georgia Tech while the more qualified people were deferred. So what gives? Well, we don't really know.

The moral of the story is to basically just be unique. I'm going to reiterate what every college admissions counselor will say: be unique and do things for a purpose. Here's a story: there's a kid in my grade who wants to be a doctor and he also loves to brag. The kid wears like Polo Ralph Lauren shirts, Sperry's, and like gold-colored bling to like show-off. He's also a jerk too, and just overall kind of rude and ignorant. But he's pretty smart though. I mean, he's like ranked a bit higher than me in class rank. Now of course, he does take less rigorous courses than me and stuff, but he's not like dumb or like a jock. So this kid thinks he's got it all, and for the past year and a half he's been like yep, I'm totally getting accepted into the honor's program at a college that is relatively easy to get into, which gives like more money or something... I don't really know. So yes, he's confident and arrogant that he somehow persuaded his parents to buy him a new $40,000 Lexus ES. Yes, and I quote him: "a brand new 2017 Lexus", a car better than his parents' cars. Boy he must have been so confident. So... it turns out he didn't make it. He goes around saying it was rigged or something. Yeah, it wasn't. Well, that sucks. Well, a reason why is, I suppose, because he's president of like three clubs or something. Freaking Key Club, Beta Club, Ambassadors, and like a few other clubs. If I were a college person reviewing this, I would think it's super sketchy, and just a little hesitant. There's no way you can be "so dedicated" to so many clubs right? I do a lot of activities, but I'm not tryna be president o everything and ma,e it seem like I actually can do more than I can. So yeah, I sorta feel bad for him. The lesson is: don't be "too" involved. Actually do some activities that show your skills and abilities. Like, I'm president of Young Republicans because I actually love politics and debating people. Heck, this website has "Politix" in it.

So yes, college admissions do suck, but there is a way to overcome it, and there are definitely ways to fix some of the problems that many people groan at.