By JAKE
MOKRIS
In 10 years, when I look back on the month of September 2006, I will remember it as the month my life belonged to various colleges. I had to put off reading for leisure, skip jogging, forget about a few chores, and give much of my free time to one difficult task: filling out college applications.
I’m not one of those students who apply to every Ivy League college, every other top college, and a few extra schools to round off their college list at 15. I’m applying to eight colleges, which is within the range you might hear admissions officers recommend. So I haven’t intentionally overwhelmed myself with applications.
Seven of the colleges I’m applying to take the Common Application. The Common Application instructions for 2006-2007 say, “The Common Application simplifies the college admission process by saving time and eliminating duplication of effort — copies of the Application for Undergraduate Admission can be sent to any of the participating college.� And according to the instructions, “This allows students to spend less time on the busywork of applying for admission.�
Really?
I haven’t noticed.
The Common Application doesn’t abolish extra paperwork: Most member colleges have their own “Supplement to the Common Application,� another form that requires information — and usually, more essays.
Every time I count the number of essays I have to write, the number increases. It reminds me of some nebulous, quantum-mechanical uncertainty. I’m pretty sure I have to write 16 essays (I’ve finished 11). I had to make myself a chart to keep track of all the essays and essay questions: One long essay and one short essay for the Common Application, at least five long essays for the supplements, eight short essays and a few more. Each essay takes time to write — if I’m going to get into colleges, my essays had better be good.
Applying online — another concept that’s supposed to make applying easier — is a lot harder than just clicking the mouse. The Common Application Web site is intimidating: The large instructions page explains every detail of the online application process. You had better be careful to follow the instructions — some mistakes might create errors when you submit your application. So no using the “Back� button to get to previous Web pages. And if you try to get to another part of the application before the part you’re on finishes loading, a small dialog box appears with a message that eats into the heart of every American: “You must wait for each application page to load entirely.� To put essays onto the applications, you have to follow the instructions for inserting essays, convert the document into a different type of file, and “Print Preview� the application 100 times to make sure the essay fits on the page.
Yes, extra forms and essays have a good purpose: More students are applying to college these days, and the only way colleges can find the right students is to ask more questions. Each college is different, so each college wants different things from its applicants.
And certain difficulties may inevitably accompany online application. Hundreds of thousands of people use the Common Application Web site. It needs good Internet security, and it’s bound to be slow.
But applying to college doesn’t have to be too hard.
Maybe if colleges want extra essays, the Common Application could have two long essays instead of one. Students could write the second essay only if the colleges they’re applying to require it.
I’m sure there are ways to make applying to colleges easier. I just hope that the current effort required by college applications doesn’t indicate a coming age of megabytes of e-red tape.
Jake Mokris is a home-schooled student and a member of the Teen Takeover staff.
College applications don't hold a candle to mortgages and immigration.
The last thing I think our education system needs is for it to be -easier- to get into college. It seems like they have to practically reteach the high school curriculum to most kids entering college nowadays.
Good internet security does not have to be slow -- the site is not running massive encryption algorithms against every bit you send them. It's just that these schools often scrimp on their programming staff, and hire people who might only have a college education in programming, as opposed to real-world application programming. Load balancing? What's that? Relational database design? I skimmed that chapter and coasted through the exam.
What about the essay on the ACTs or SATs? YOu've already written one essay for college when you take that test, so I don't see the point of writing another one, especially when most of the application essays are read fully, just skimmed.
Thanks for commenting, Mr. Dunphy, Nathan.
I submitted my Common Application to several colleges yesterday, and as I filled out one of the colleges' supplements, guess what I found? Another essay I had to write.
Matt, have you taken a look at college applications and financial aid forms these days? Having bought and sold several houses, I would say that morgages are easier, and often cost less than college tuition. Just recently, I read an article about a person who was in the business of counseling families and aiding them in the college application process.
On the one hand, colleges should be selective and admit only qualified students. However, good students are now forced to apply (at a cost of $50 to $75 each) to numerous colleges to insure that they will get in to one of them. Because of advertising and more students applying to more colleges, the admittance rate is quickly falling. Right now, the ball is in the colleges' hands. This is sort of ironic, since the student is the consumer/shopper who will be paying the cost.
And, personally, I would rather see a student spend time on classwork and learning than on writing numerous college essays.