Like many of you reading this post, I'm in the process of my college applications. And it's horrible. It's exciting, yeah, but mostly stressful. All that stress and pressure causes any joy I could be getting out of the process to come crashing down around me, resulting in this horrible cloud surrounding me of "oh my god this is my future that I'm basically determining right now!!". But that part is probably more just me.
It's a business, the college application process. Money has such an unnecessarily large part in it- for example, the more you can pay for ACT/SAT classes, the more likely you are to do better on the test against a lower-income student. At that point, after forking out the cash for big practice books, private tutors, and classes, how much are the tests actually measuring our raw knowledge? Is how much money we're willing to spend going to best determine our college preparedness?
The business factor of the college process extends also to paying to submit your application. Of course this can have benefits, so no one arbitrarily sends applications to every college. But mostly, I think that it's simply another money barrier for lower-income students. And as long as I'm on the topic, WHY does college cost so much? With so many students already going to school, all paying the same or different but still pricey amounts, where is all that money going? Is the massive amount of debt accumulated by students worth it, especially considering how difficult it is to find a job in your major at least straight out of school?
None of what I've been saying should necessarily be news to anyone, which makes the questions and complaints even more prevalent, since most people are already thinking about them. To close, college????!!!!! Applications!!!? Money!!??
Thanks for sharing, it's important for people to address it. Applying to college indeed is stressful more than anything. Not to mention, on top of the stress, we are throwing in tons of money just to even have a chance of going to that certain school. Application fees are before the thousands of dollars we pay! Also, standardized testing can't define you or your work ethic. It's even worse that people have to invest so much just to improve a score. Yes, I'm going to agree with you. It's overwhelming. However, it'll feel great when it's all over.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the entire college process needs to be reevaluated. First off, it's ridiculously competitive to get into any school these days and not that I feel that they should accept everyone, but it's causing kids to go far above and beyond the expectations just in hopes of getting in. This has a huge relation to money because students that are wealthier can afford to take the AP tests (usually at $100 a test), hire ACT/SAT tutors, and send scores/applications to more schools. The ACT is supposed to measure your aptitude/comprehension yet if everyone is paying to improve their scores, how accurate are these results? Could not agree more with your post!
ReplyDeleteThere are huge flaws with the college application process, and you do a great job exposing them. This process would probably be fun if it wasn't so damn stressful! I'd like to address one thing in particular that you did not mention; SAT Subject Tests. In my opinion, these tests are one of the biggest scams that the college application business produced. This is what I imagine a converstion between the people who came up with these tests to resemble: "Hey, you know how the grade that a student receives in a class is a reflection of their knowledge of that subject? Well, how about we make them pay money to take a test that presents this same exact information!" Schools that require SAT subject tests aggravate me to no end. At least when you pay money for AP tests, you can get college credit.
ReplyDeleteCollege (especially the applications process) is a moneymaking machine. The standardized testing corporations make money off of the tests, the test materials, test retakes, test classes, test tutors, and countless test handbooks. Then they make money off of sending these REQUIRED test grades off to schools. Colleges make money off of application fees and then, of course, tuition. The entire system is set up so that the richer you are, the better chances you have. If you can afford to take test classes, buy test books, retake the tests 8 times, and pay both the test and application fees to apply to tons of colleges, you have far better chances of getting in somewhere good than someone who can't afford any of that.
ReplyDeleteI agree. One would hope that the education system in the United States would not be part of the capitalist economy. But unfortunately it has. Some colleges are purely about making money, and not about benefiting their students. It goes to show how focused America has become on money. I think that the United States should follow Sweden's example. In Sweden public institutions are free. If we did this in the United States, I think that the United States would be a much more successful country.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the college process has many, many flaws. As I was watching the democratic debate last night, Bernie Sanders mentioned his plan to make public college and universites free. Although I'm not sure how realistic this is, I love the idea. It ensures that anyone that wants to have a college education does.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the college process has many, many flaws. As I was watching the democratic debate last night, Bernie Sanders mentioned his plan to make public college and universites free. Although I'm not sure how realistic this is, I love the idea. It ensures that anyone that wants to have a college education does.
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