College apps: are they worth it?

College applications are a ubiquitous, perennial issue for seniors. Undoubtedly, SMIC-I’s 66 seniors have collectively spent well over 66 weeks pondering over the hordes of essays that are required for their college applications. Only five schools in the top 100 don’t ask for supplements—additional essays specific to a university—as part of their application requirements, according to test prep company PrepScholar. Though this ornate process may appear to be necessary in light of an ever-growing applicant pool, do the benefits really outweigh the costs?

The process is not only time-consuming, but also poses a major financial burden. Application fees for a single university run as high as $90 (598 RMB), says the U.S. News & World Report. To make matters worse, the College Board, which runs the SAT and AP examinations, charges $12 per university simply for electronically delivering test results. Some students even decide to retain a private college consultant, which Forbes claims can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000. College applications take heavy financial tolls on students.

It appears that colleges are stuck in an abysmal cycle of ever-increasing requirements—as they increase the requirements due to a growing application pool, more money is spent by students, especially the well-off, on preparing the best application. In turn, the bar is once again raised for future applicants each and every year: more standardized tests, more supplemental essays. According to Sandy Chien (12?), “What really matters and requires the most effort is the individual college supplements.”

At the same time, Sandy concedes, “[Writing college supplements] is also a process of self-realization.” It is hard to deny that supplemental essays have some benefits. They may afford students an opportunity to reflect upon their personal lives, and show colleges “evidence that a student can write well” as well as “the personality of the student,” as the College Board puts it. However, even so, the restrictive time and word limit placed upon students may negate the benefits. In any case, the high stakes of college applications inhibit honesty and promote picture-perfect and perhaps, insincere, applications.

In my mind, this process places an unnecessary burden on students without providing significant benefits, as the law of diminishing returns would show: after the first essay, it should not be difficult to formulate a sufficient understanding of a student. In fact, Randi Heathman, previously an admissions officer at Albion College, admitted: “I didn’t read the entirety of every essay that came across my desk when I was an admission counselor.” Similarly, Geoff Broome, the assistant director of admissions at Widener University reported that, due to time constraints, some schools only spend “minutes” on an application.

Considering that many admissions offices do not seem to have time to thoroughly read all the additional essays they ask for, is it fair for these colleges to force students to devote hours of time just to gloss over their writing?

At the same time, some schools are coming up with more innovative writing supplements. The University of Chicago, for example, invites students to alter one letter of a major—for example, “Bromance Languages” or “Commuter Science.” While lauded by USA Today pundits as being “creative,” they fail to see the mentally fatigued high school student on the other side of the screen.

Writing apps and supplements does indeed encourage students to critically reflect upon themselves. However, these are often outweighed by the enormous amounts stress they cause. That being said, while necessary to an extent, the college application process has gone a little too far. Both students and admissions officers could stand to benefit from a more streamlined process. As Mr. Scott Sanders from the History Department remarked, “Observing seniors currently working on their college apps is like living next to an active volcano. It’s beautiful, powerful, and awe-inspiring,” he says, “but you’re never quite sure if it’s going to explode and rain havoc on those around it.”

What do you think about the application process? Leave a comment below!

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