If I told my parents that I wanted to apply to 29 schools, I think they would think I was crazy. I would think I was crazy too. I have no idea how many schools I will apply to, but I'm fairly certain it will be more than 5. When my mom was applying to schools, she applied to 2 and got into both; my dad applied to 3 and got into all as well. In 1990, 9% of students applied to 7 or more colleges, however in 2011, the number has risen to 29%. This leads me to question why these numbers have increased so drastically from when my parents were applying to college, which may seem ages ago, but really was not that far in the past.
In an article I read in the New York Times about college applications, I was startled at the numbers of applications to colleges some seniors will be sending out this year. Alexa Verola, an example student from the article, applied to 29 schools already. Now, that might seem like a lot, but there are students who will double her number. Students may argue that they are looking for the best fit school for them, but are they really finding it by applying to dozens of schools?
The article claims that there are multiple factors effecting why students feel they need to apply to more than a couple of schools, but the main factor is fear. For me, this was the least surprising part of the article, because I know that I will feel the same way when applying to colleges. Colleges is something exciting, but the application process (from what I hear) is terrible. There are so many colleges to attend and so much you can do at those colleges that the choices seem overwhelming. I have friends who know exactly where they want to go, and will probably still apply to more than 5 colleges "just to be safe". For the rest of us who have no idea where we want to go, or what we want to do in college, the whole process can make you feel like a deer in headlights. I think the number of seniors in our graduating class is another contributor to student's fear. With a school as big as New Trier, student's may feel like it is almost impossible to differentiate and stand out when competing with 1,000 other student's for one spot. So is the girl who applied to 29 schools in fact crazy? What do you think?
Sarah -
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting how much the college application process as changed as time goes on. My parents also only applied to a few schools. My mom even had a sleepover the night before her ACT (which she only took once...another difference!). Today, people place far more emphasis on the whole admission process. I think 29 schools is far too many to apply to. My cousin, who lives in Michigan, says everyone in her school applies to only three schools, and they all apply to the exact same three (Michigan, Michigan State & Grand Valley State). Not only does the number of applications a student completes vary as time goes on, but it's interesting how it also varies from school to school.