College Applications

If you have never lived through writing college applications, especially applying somewhere which you know does not have a 100% chance of getting in, you have not gone through one of the most emotionally taxing and depressing processes of life. In today's American society, the process has gotten worse. The pool of applying students has expanded. As a result, competition has increased for spots in most colleges, not just for Ivies. There's a saying at my sister's college that the "Freshman are smarter every year." A greater applicant pool means a wider selection for colleges. They can pick and choose who they want. For students, this means acceptance is more difficult.
American society says that you need to work for your own success. In our society, and this is especially extreme in my local community, the "only" way to be successful is to go to college. Our parents may or may not have had the opportunities open to us today. They pressure us to be better than they were. They expect us to be successful to their standards. If we teenagers don't make it into the college our parents think we should be going to, or just college in general, they deem us as failures.
There is no other option. We must go to college or our world will shatter in a thousand pieces. That final rejection letter is not only a rejection from college, but a rejection from family, peers, and mentors. We are deemed as lazy and incompetent. We are the bad example at family gatherings. We are the unnamed failure.
We students work hard to get our applications done. We sweat like we haven't perspired during a game or mile run while writing our essays. The process is nerveracking enough without the outside pressure. Most of us have our own standards to meet, without those of society hanging over us. The extra pressure is far from encouraging. It actually is a depriment to our performance. We start asking ourselves "What if they don't accept me? What if I'm not good enough?" Instead of completing applications and taking what comes of it, we worry about the future. Our uncertainty and fears are apparent through our writing. And if we do fall, the pressure makes the fall all the harder.
I believe that there is life beyond college. When we are applying this fall and winter, we may be planning the next four years of our lives, but life is so much longer than a mere four years. One of the greatest parts about America is the way people can be flexible with their careers. They can move up and be successful without a solid education. The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were Stanford dropouts. Success is not determined whichever degree received from whichever college. Success, in the American sense, is determined by work ethic and passion.
I'd like to dispel some other misconceptions about the college application process. If you are a parent wondering why your high school senior doesn't have a college acceptance letter in their hand right now, it's because colleges don't normally send them out until March or April. The regular deadline for most college applications isn't until early January. Your student doesn't even need to turn their application in for another 2 1/2 months, and it's best to hold onto it until the last possible moment so that the student can make any changes to better it if necessary. It wouldn't be a good idea to harp on them about having a college acceptance right now. In most cases, it's impossible for them to have one at this moment, and it will only make the student more strained, and feel like he or she is doing something wrong.
Students should be encouraged to do what they dream of doing. We are individuals with our own character and personality, not forms whose destiny should be shaped by society. Extra pressure only dampens our ability to soar.