Bird 1

Brooke Bird

Ms. Jorgensen

English 10 H P4

1 May 2019

Are College Admissions Too Competitive?

Here you are, sitting at a desk looking at the college application that could determine

your future. You ponder your whole high school career and how it has lead up to this. Did you

join enough clubs? Was that ACT and SAT score good enough? Were the other students better

than you? Applying to college today, with it being as cutthroat as it is, is definitely not an easy

task. College admissions are getting too competitive because of the amount of stress it puts on

students, the subjective aspects of an applicant, and all the controversy surrounding the cheating

scandal.

Students feel the stress of applying to college because of the lack of control they have

when it comes to being accepted or rejected. Once they fill out the application and put it in the

mailbox, it is in the admissions hands. There is so much pressure that is put on students. They are

told that the college they go to could make or break their career, but thirty years ago, people

didn’t even have a college degree let alone a high school diploma. There are so many factors that

tie in when applying to college, which puts a weight on students’ shoulders. Whether a student is

accepted mainly depends on “scoring well on a single test,” joining each and every club, and

doing well throughout their whole high school career (Khadaroo, Stacy). Over the years, being

accepted into college has drastically changed and has become more competitive. Parents can’t

say that they “would be accepted into their own alma maters if they were applying today”
 Bird 2

because test scores have raised and acceptance rates have dropped (Bierer, Lee). All of these

aspects have put students in a panic leading them to become stressed.

Every high school has its valedictorian and student body president. Let’s not forget about

the newspaper editor and the soccer or baseball player who has played the majority of their lives.

There are so many more types of students who have worked so hard to achieve one goal:

College. But that’s the thing, so many of the same students with the same credentials are

applying to college making it “difficult to set themselves apart” (Khadaroo, Stacy). Most

students want to try their best to get into their dream college, the top university, the ivy league

school. Or even just the minor universities that are ideal for them. But with all of those schools

being so selective in what type of applicant they want , it is more of a challenge to get in. It was

as if college admissions had two piles: yes and no. Now they practically do, but imagine if you

were rejected and had all the qualifications to be accepted. It would be such a disappointment to

see. You had the perfect grades and the outstanding test scores, but there was that one thing that

could have set you apart from all the other applicants.

Imagine if you applied to your dream school, hoping and praying that you will get in, just

to have the carpet pulled right out from underneath you. You receive a letter in the mail that

basically says “You, along with many other students, have been rejected because someone who

didn’t deserve it got in.” This is what is happening today. Students who either don’t think they

are good enough, don’t care, or just want to please their parents are cheating their way through

admissions. Recently, there was a major college scandal where parents were bribing test proctors

to either give the student a good score or take it for them entirely. There have been a “total of 33

parents that were charged” including well-known celebrities and influencers, such as Lori
 Bird 3

Loughlin, Jane Buckingham, and Felicity Huffman (Pascus, Brian). All of these parents paid

from 50,000 to 500,000 dollars just to ‘help’ their sons and daughters. Now, the actual students

who worked so hard, but didn’t to get into these schools are practically taken advantage of

because of the “despicable actions of other parents” (Li, David). The students who are now

applying to college will doubt themselves due to “how much cheating goes on in the world”

(Khadaroo, Stacy).

Applying to college is not a simple undertaking. There is so much that goes into effect.

You need the grades, the standardized test scores, the extracurriculars, etc. With all of this, you

can see how it can put so much pressure and stress on a student. They have to ask themselves

over and over again if they are good enough. College admissions mainly causes all of the panic

with them being as selective and competitive as they are. Students applying have to worry about

not only the selectivity, but all the cheating scandals too.
 Bird 4

Works Cited

Khadaroo, Stacy. “SAT cheating scandal: Are stakes getting too high for college

admission?” ​Ebsco Host, ​http://web.a.ebscohost.com​. Accessed 09 May 2019

Pascus, Brian. “USC may expel students associated with college admissions scandal.” ​CBS

​ ww.cbsnews.com​. Accessed 09 May 2019

News, w

Bierer, Lee. “Why is college admission getting more competitive?” ​Carolina College Bound,

www.carolinacollegebound.com​. Accessed 09 May 2019

Li, David. “College cheating scandal: Lawsuits filed by students at elite schools.” ​NBC News,

www.nbcnews.com​. Accessed 09 May 2019