Opinion: College application leads to unnecessary stress
Every year millions of teenagers apply to colleges all over the world. Deciding where to attend for the next four plus years in order to earn an advanced education is a big challenge for a young adult to take on. Some teens decide on a major prior to applying to schools, while others go into college with an open mind hoping to get accepted to schools that offer many different programs and majors. Students more than ever have many requirements in the competitive process of applying to colleges. Requirements include a class rank, GPA, SAT/ ACT scores, the personal essay, three letters of recommendation, plus the cost to apply, college tours and more. Although high school has supposedly prepared us, teens to face the application process with fear and stress as they attempt preparing to apply.
Preparing to get into college takes a great effort as well as time. Applications such as “The Common App,” however, make it easier to apply to schools. The Common App lays out everything required for certain schools, such as SAT/ ACT scores, these are still needed and looked at by many collages. The national average SAT score is a 1500 out of 2400, which would require a student to receive at least 500 points per section. The national average ACT score is a 20 out of a 36.
The ACT shows more what a student learns throughout their high school career, and has up to five sections such as, reading, math, English, science and an optional writing section. The SAT is more of an aptitude test, and has three sections, reading, math and writing. However, many ask if student’s college application be based off three years of work in high school and one standardized test score? If colleges are so interested in how the student performs, students should submit their best work from each class so the colleges can analyze their strengths.
Every college requires a personal essay, and schools on the Common App have templates of essay topics which a student can choose from and send to every school. Colleges not on the Common App sometimes require different essay topics, which would result in students writing multiple personal college application essays.
For students worried about their SAT/ACT scores, an option to consider would be looking into “test blind” colleges. Test bind colleges are colleges that choose not to accept or even look at SAT/ ACT scores. There are over 180 schools around the US that are test blind. Some of the most popular test blind schools are; Ohio State University, American University and Hampshire College. By not looking at standardized tests in the application process, the other components of the application will be looked at more in depth.
The personal essay is also not required at many colleges around the US. There are over 100 schools that do not accept the essay as part of the application process. Local schools such as, La Salle University, and New England College do not require the essay.
Local colleges such as Rhode Island College (RIC) and the University of Rhode Island (URI) require the college essay, SAT/ACT scores, academic potential recommendations, and evidence of extracurricular activities. Salve Regina requires, two letters of recommendation, personal essay, SAT/ACT scores (optional unless applying as a nursing or education major). Roger Williams State University requires official high school transcript(s), one letter of recommendation, an application essay, while standardized test scores are optional.
Overall, the application process can be stressful, but the trick is to find colleges that do not require everything. By eliminating standardized test scores or the personal essay, the application itself would become less stressful. There are multiple schools that have an easier application, due to the elimination of the essay and test scores. Presently these are the hurdles, which a high school student must jump over in order to get into college. However, if colleges rethink the application process they might attract a larger pool of talented applicants.
