Students a sacrifice to colleges

With the college application frenzy well on its way, seniors are finally at the point in their lives when they take a step back from “doing” and focus on “showing.” The process of laying out one’s entire high school career is ironic, in that it not just reveals the inner workings of the student to the admissions officers, but to the student himself.

Through compiling and reviewing accomplishments, activities and workloads, students come to realize how the choices they’ve made affected the person they’ve become; however, are they happy with who they’ve become? Many students tailor themselves to appear college worthy, but in reality there is no one-size-fits-all expectation. Students should take care not to lose who they are in the effort of getting into their dream schools.

The race begins when students first enter Saratoga High, as they suddenly have an clean plate devoid of everything from grades to school activities. Students looking ahead to college immediately hunger for things to fill it with, including an impressive line-up of classes and reputable clubs. In scarfing down this impressive resume, many realize that some of their choices had not been to their tastes, and that they bit off more than they can chew.

Students need to understand that guidelines for getting into college are virtually nonexistent. Not all the students at Stanford were yearbook editors or drum majors in high school. When colleges look at the application pool, they want to see students who stand out, not necessarily for the connotations of their activities, but for what they were able to make of their respective arenas and what it meant to them.

As for grades, a good record can do nothing but help, but at the same time, students should not just focus on the numbers while putting the rest of their lives on hold.

“It almost seems as if the student population perpetuates this misconception,” AB Calculus AP teacher Michele Drouin said, regarding students who are pressured to overload on five to six AP and honors classes. “Colleges look at the whole picture, not just one aspect.”

Students often get rejected from colleges with cumulative GPAs of 4.0+ if they lacked in the social and extra curricular parts of their application. Similarly, enrolling in too many advanced classes and failing to keep up does not impress anyone.

“It doesn’t matter that you are taking many AP classes if you are not doing well in them,” Drouin said. “Focus on where you can do well, and that’s going to benefit you more than doing more and not doing well.”

Students who trudge through high school juggling more than they can handle do not have the time an energy to step back and re-examine what’s important to them. By deciding their fates for four years on the basis of what some stranger might approve of in an admissions office, they forget to ask what they might want to do, or what stimulates them.

Who cares if you are volunteering excessively at a elderly home if you would much rather spend the time to play an instrument? More importantly, how do you know what that stranger likes, or what the hundreds of other strangers at many other schools will like?

“If you are challenging yourself just for the college admissions, you are doing it for the wrong reasons,” Drouin said.

Every application reviewer has different opinions and subjectivity is a reality of the process. Students who work to build an image to please admissions officers lose not only when all their efforts go down the drain when they get rejected, but also the prime years in their lives that they could have been using to follow their own paths. Even if they get accepted, they still forgone four important years of their lives.

The best route one can take in high school is one that benefits them. When one enjoys doing something and has a passion or a talent for it, success is almost always guaranteed. Students should not fear pursuing certain activities or lifestyles due to what they think others may think. You can’t pinpoint the inner workings of the college admission process, but you can find your calling. Students should take full advantage of their high school years discovering who they are and who they want to be.