Admission impossible: Seniors grapple with the prospect of college

"Senior year is the greatest; it's nothing but fun."

The majority of current Westlake High School seniors would beg to differ with this popu- lar misconception, that the final year in high school is free and easy. Dark circles under the eyes, week- ends spent indoors, and permanent body molds on the chair in front of the computer are proof that the life of a 12th-grader can be difficult.

So, why exactly is senior year so rough? One word: college.

Students are bombarded with mile-long application forms and the daunting task of pleasing col- lege admissions officers while at the same time balancing the final year of course work, activities and community obligations.

Theoretically, if a student struggles to get into a school, he or she will most likely struggle there if accepted. So why do we seniors kill ourselves to achieve admit- tance to that top university? For the same reason we spend $200- plus on designer jeans: the label.

Most will agree that it sounds more impressive to attend an Ivy League university rather than a small no-name school in the middle of who knows where. But there is a night-and-day difference between attending a school that sounds right and attending a school that feels right. An open mind is key.

Eva Ostrum, author of "The Thinking Parent's Guide to College Admissions," writes that "the more (a student) sees at the outset, the bet- ter equipped he will be to define what is appealing and what is not." Stu- dents can't decide whether or not a school is the right fit until taking a campus tour and studying what the school has to offer.

On the other hand, there are those students who apply to more than 15 colleges to ensure acceptance. Yes, this is smart, but it is also unfair. The overly cautious student with a 4.6 GPA and a lifetime of community service is guar- anteed acceptance to the majority of our country's top universities. The re- ality is that he or she can only commit to one school, and will reject the 14 others that grant admittance.

Because students today apply to an excessive number of schools, ad- missions directors are unable to pre- dict acceptance rates. Years ago, when students only applied to three or four schools, there was about a 30 percent chance a student would at- tend if accepted.

Now, because of the unpre- dictability of which school a student

will actually attend, college offi- cials are forced to lower accep- tance rates. They offer an educa- tion only to applicants who exhibit a prospective-student quality, not those who seem to be looking at the school as a back-up plan.

This is only a small factor in the capriciousness of college ac- ceptance. The best advice is that there is none; there is no defini- tive explanation for why one per- son is accepted and not the other.

"I think that the college applica- tion process has become a lottery rather than an actual display of intel- ligence. Today, everyone is so over- qualified that it has . . . come down to pure luck," said Westlake senior Cory Scholl-Spencer.

It is obvious that applying to colleges is one of the most tedious, time-consuming tasks students endure in high school, but the ar- duous process is helpful in impor- tant aspects of life such as time management and self-discipline.

Although it may seem impos- sible, millions of students are at- tending colleges, proving that no matter how little one has slept or how many hours were spent glued to the computer screen, admission is possible.

Kaitlyn Burkett is a senior at Westlake High School.