Seniors are slowly receiving their decision letters from colleges and universities as winter continues. Meanwhile other high schoolers, especially juniors, are bracing to dive into the world of the college application process. From building strong extracurriculars to preparing for standardized tests, many high schoolers start to feel the pressure for the college journey ahead as soon as they step inside high school. This immense change from high school to college, which should be an exciting stepping stone towards the future, instead turns into one overshadowed by a whirlwind of stress, given each university’s complex and unique requests.
One of the most confusing parts of the college admissions process persists: navigating the different platforms used to complete college applications. Over 1100 colleges use the Common Application (an online platform that allows students to apply to multiple universities at once) whereas approximately 170 others prefer the Coalition Application. Additionally, some universities, notably the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Georgetown, use their own application platform, thus forcing students to switch between or among application portals depending on where they are applying. This situation does not only apply to private schools however, and state schools such as Rutgers are only now slowly starting to move to a mutual platform. Universities may, however, not only have individual portals, but also different requirements. Along with their grades and extracurriculars, applicants must submit supplemental essays which are many times unique to each college. For example, a suburban school such as NJIT chooses to go with the Common Application prompt. On the other hand, a small school such as Kean University selects its own variety of prompts but keeps the questions basic with one question asking how applicants have demonstrated dignity for a different race. The essays of big named institutions are where the questions get interesting. These prestigious institutions may ask for different, many times thought-provoking questions, such as the University of Chicago asking potential students “in what ways do we get younger as we get older.” For students who are applying to multiple universities, this means changing their applications constantly to cater to the individual needs of each university.
Even though school counselors do provide guidance on application procedures, they aren’t always able to be there to answer every question due to the large number of students they handle and the tough time constraints that come with their job. This lack of accessible guidance for high schoolers in the midst of applying to colleges further complicates the admissions process by leaving students to complete many of these tasks without any proper direction. While private college counselors or college prep organizations may offer a bit more guidance, their high costs make their services inaccessible for many students. This disparity further widens the gap in college accessibility as students without professional support struggle to compete with peers who can afford such resources.
Financial aid adds another layer of complexity to the already burdensome process. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) in particular is overwhelming with endless questions about income, assets, and taxes. Despite filling it out, many middle-class families end up ineligible for meaningful aid, leaving students to scramble for scholarships or to take on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt that may take many decades to repay. To make matters worse, colleges have continued to increase their costs, thereby increasing the debt that students are forced to take every year. For example, Yale University increased its fees by 3.9% to almost a staggering $84,000 per year or $336,000 for a 4 year education—an amount enough to buy a small home in many states.
Last but most certainly not the least, lies the question of standardized testing. While ACT and SAT have been essentials for the college application process, the pandemic prompted universities to adopt policies that did not require the SAT as an admissions requirement (test-optional policies). However, this policy change left students wondering whether its worth the time and effort to prepare for these huge tests. What makes this situation even more complicated is that these test-optional policies are subject to change. For example, students in the classes of 2024, 2025, and potentially 2026 will still apply to colleges with test-optional policies. However, for later graduating classes, this situation is vulnerable to change, thus leaving students in later graduate classes confused about whether not taking the SAT would come back to haunt them in the future. This confusion only adds to the uncertainty and continues to make college applications a high-stakes guessing game, which leaves the students unsure if their efforts will pay off.
The college application process remains a source of stress and inequity to many students despite its ultimate goal of providing access to a student’s future path. Universities continue to alter their requirements, leaving students to navigate the system as if a maze rather than a straight path to opportunities. These current complex processes of application process highlight how change must occur because, after all, the point of college is to help students move forward toward their academic goals and not to create unnecessary barriers that overwhelm this journey toward their future profession.
