Who Am I? Well, Who Do You Want Me To Be?

There is much to be discussed when the topic of college admissions arises. Students spend years preparing for standardized tests, completing activities and service hours, and building a resume to convince academic institutions that they are worth giving a spot in the university’s class. While this process can lead students to an institution where they will flourish and grow, it can also negatively impact school climate, student mental health, and put an exorbitant amount of pressure on young people as they work to succeed in academics and tests to prove their worth.

The college process is supposed to be a time where a student discovers the campus that is best for them: the environment that supports them, where they will be able to live, learn, and grow. Yet, while the intention of the college application process is to find the place best for you, it often turns into a student strategically framing and selling them self as the perfect candidate for admittance.

Each college has its type: the elite academic institution, the Jesuit college, the activist school, and so on. As such, students spend years working to obtain the GPA, test scores, recommendation letters, and leadership positions that will propel them into the student body of the college of their dreams, committing to activities that the college wants them to pursue.

While spending months anxiously writing the Common Application, I found myself crafting different identities for each school. I wanted to be the person they wanted, so I morphed myself, my resume, and my experiences to fit their brand and type.

In one admissions essay, I was a feminist activist committed to social justice work, citing my experiences with internships and political campaigns as the merit for admission. In another, I was a community leader, the daughter of dedicated civil servants who spent my hours outside of school completing community service projects and my summers mentoring girls with Diabetes. In a third, I was a Leslie Knope-esque politico, obsessed with policy and politics, ready to commit to a career on Capitol Hill before even before beginning school.

Each of these were elements that, when compiled together, created my personality; I am a feminist who spent high school volunteering on political campaigns and following the day to day events of politics, government, and policy, all while fulfilling community service hours.

I feared and questioned, would the colleges like me for all the passions and interests I held? Rather than presenting myself as a whole person, I picked the elements of my personality I thought that the schools wanted to see.

This tendency begs the question, how can a school truly know if you are meant to be a part of their community when all they have are numbers and, maybe, an essay or two to judge you?

The college admissions time is supposed to be a three-month long period in which a student discovers the campus that will best support their development as a leader, a student, and a person. In reality, this period of months ends up lasting years as students spend high school studying for two tests and building a resume that will prove their worth to an institution.

Rather than spending these impressionable years pursuing new experiences for the sake of personal development, students must act as entrepreneurs to build a resume to impress. Considering the personal and financial investments a student, and their family, are making when committing to a college, how can they be sure that the institution is the best place for them if they cannot present their true self in their application for fear of rejection?

To those about to go through the process, I would advise you to present your whole self, not a fragmented piece of your personality as the college process is a time for you to discover the campus and community that will best fit your needs. Your value as a person is not dependent on the name of the institution on your degree.