Future Plans. What are you going to do with your future, and based on your answer do we want you at our school? This seems quite nonsensical for undergraduate universities to accept you based on what you think you want to pursue after you graduate. I mean honestly how many people end up changing their majors or career paths throughout their undergraduate education? I view college as the time in your life to figure out what you want to do; really, how experienced or knowledgeable are you fresh out of high school?
Demographics. A college wants to know where you are from, if you are married, and your ethnicity. How could that possibly affect your performance at an undergraduate institution? Colleges often argue that they want to diversify their inclusive campuses, but how diverse are they when they discriminate in their application process? In our modern day it seems a little barbaric that colleges must accept a certain percentage of each ethnicity to meet a set quota to receive adequate funding.
Family. This section of the application requires the student to fill out information about their parents and siblings. Remind me again, who is applying to college? Oh right, the student, not their parents or siblings. How could your parents past or your siblings present possibly impact your chance of being admitted to college? Why do colleges require this information? To ensure that you come from a family sufficiently qualified to attend their institution, when you're the one actually applying? I'm finding it hard to understand the purpose of the family section, and i am sure I'm not alone in this endeavor.
Academics. Finally something that makes sense! It seems appropriate for them to want to know where you went to school and how well you performed at that school in hopes that you will carry on your current pattern at their university. I believe this section should constitute the entire common application. By applying you're telling them that you would fit in there, and you have an earnest interest in attending their school, all they really need to know is that your level of academic interest and achievement match their standards. Can they really base your admission of anything other than this section? I guess the section labeled tests would also follow under this rule, because if you weren't super motivated throughout high school you can still prove that your intellectually capacity meets their standards.
Activities. This section is basically asking how well you can participate in extracurriculars and still be successful in all other areas of your life? It does make sense, but i believe the point of extracurriculars is to escape from the academic setting that occupies such a large portion of your life. Therefore it seems a bit ironic that colleges want to know how you occupy your time when trying escape the demanding high school curriculum. I think activities should not be such a large factor the admission process because is in no way relates to your academic performance, it is simply voluntary recreation and should not be given such credit.
Writing. The application forces you to submit your most prized piece of writing in hopes that they will find something inspiring within you and you will be admitted to college. If you really think about shouldn't college being writing to you telling you how inspiring they are in hopes that you will choose to apply to their college? I don't mean the mass of junk mail you receive from random colleges, I'm talking about personal letters sent directly to you. As Emerson states in his infamous essay on self-reliance, " It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it." Is there any more proof of this than the common application or college admission process?
Signature. The final section require you to check three boxes acknowledging that nothing can be altered, all of the information is accurate, and that you understand you are not guaranteed admission into any one college. Where is the trust? Why would anyone lie about who they are to be admitted into college, because obviously if they had to do so they wouldn't be a very good fit. I think it would be painful to live, breathe, and exist for four years in a place where you have no purpose or identity. Can the colleges put a little trust in the students that they know themselves well enough to decide where they would fit in an prosper? The ultimate question is this, do colleges think they know your duty better than you, and therefore inherit the power decide the fate of your future education plans?
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This essay has a very good quote that it spurred from and I like the coeval topic that you applying (no pun intended) it to. But you need to tie the main idea and quote into it earlier and more often. I read about two-thirds of the essay without knowing what is going on, and therefore, that's a loss of a large portion of your essay. And you criticize the common application enough, but you could propose how you would solve those problems. You say that academic achievement and tests should be most of the application, but colleges can't distinguish between applications with that little amount of information. Furthermore, personal letters? Do you have any idea how many students are applying to colleges? WAY to many to have personal letters sent to them. Therefore, you should explain different solutions in your conclusion that actually could work, they could come from Emerson's view if you would like. I like this essay and it has potential.
ReplyDeleteWow...i really have to admit that I didn't understand that this was actually connected to Emerson (or any of them in anyway). While I did enjoy the obvious holes in the common app's logic, I really wish you established the connection a bit better. You don't necessarily have to quote Emerson (or whoever inspired this idea) but some sort of line that had in it the nature of the inspiration, something that'd sound somewhat familiar, would help out a lot.
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