why is getting into a good university in america so hard?
a discussion on college applications
if you're a high school student in america — especially at a private or academically intense school — you probably know what it feels like to be under constant pressure to get into a “good” college.
as someone aiming for a well-known uc or a prestigious private university (i live in california, too), it often feels like nothing i do is ever enough. good grades? not special. impressive extracurriculars? still not unique. there’s always someone doing more, and applying to 20+ colleges just to feel like they have a shot.
i know not every school in the u.s. is like this. there are definitely places where the academic pressure isn't as extreme. so i’m not saying this stress is universal. but let’s be real: most of us have, at some point, watched those college acceptance videos and felt both awe and panic. the stats, the achievements, the sheer volume of applications. it’s overwhelming!!!!
this system pushes students to constantly overachieve, not because we love learning, but because we’re scared of being left behind. that’s not healthy. and it’s not how education is supposed to work.
education and gaining knowledge is something you’re supposed to be actually passionate about. it’s not supposed to mean piling on ap classes, destroying your mental health, sacrificing your social life, skipping fun electives, and barely sleeping. these are the years when sleep is literally the most important for our brains, and yet we’re getting the least of it. why? because we’re buried in tests, essays, sports, music practice, clubs, and the pressure to be “perfect” on paper.
when i was in sixth grade, my teacher used to have us all sit in a circle every morning and answer a question of the day. one day, she asked, “what university would you like to attend when you grow up?”
people started sharing their answers. names like berkeley, ucla, ucsc, and more got tossed around. being a second-gen immigrant kid whose parents were from canada, not the u.s., i didn’t really know much about california schools. i had one answer and only one.
the spotlight finally hit me and i said, “i’d like to go to harvard.”
stares. silence. side eyes.
“harvard? seriously? that’s so hard to get into. and isn’t it just a port city, anyway?”
“well, i don’t know,” i replied. “it just seems cool. i’d like to go.”
the responses i got were super skeptical, and it made me wonder—why does everyone seem so shocked at the idea of wanting to go to a school like harvard? it’s prestigious, everyone knows it, and it seems like you’d get an amazing education there.
then i got to high school and found out for myself.
so many people complain about the education system, and honestly, my school just proves their point. we’re on a 4x4 schedule, which means we take four classes from august to december and a different four from january to may. sounds efficient, right? except it’s actually a nightmare. it gives you half the time to learn an entire course’s worth of material. and then, when ap exams roll around in may, you're expected to remember everything from a class you finished in december. it’s exhausting.
on top of that, with all these fast-paced classes, you’re expected to maintain a 4.0 gpa. at this point, that honestly feels like luck more than anything else. i’ve had plenty of bad teachers who gave me grades i didn’t deserve — and not in a good way! and sure, i’ve also had teachers who graded fairly and gave me what i actually earned. but out of all the b’s i’ve gotten, i truly believe only two of them were realistic, earned b’s. the rest came from confusing teaching, rushed pacing, or just plain bad communication.
and i forgot to mention — good grades and a pristine gpa aren’t even enough anymore! you’re also expected to have a full list of impressive extracurriculars. and i’m not talking about joining a club or two. i’m talking about volunteering in uganda for 200 hours to build a water filtration system, starting your own small business, promoting it on social media, somehow making $50,000 in revenue while taking 6 ap classes and getting all 5’s on your ap exams, playing a varsity sport, being the team captain, hitting level 10 CM on your instrument that you still practice, volunteering over 300 hours, spending weekends at animal shelters and senior homes, and conducting a science lab on your own time outside of school.
not to mention taking sat tutoring classes to hit that 1600 goal of yours, and trying out for the act too, because your mom recommended it.
also, don’t forget, your friends are still out there, ready to hang out. but wait! they’re doing way more than you are.
better luck next time.
where is the time to breathe? to be a teenager? to enjoy anything outside of your college apps checklist?
august 1st rolls around and you find yourself in a deep, dark hole of college applications. the counselor you paid $15k for isn’t really helping anymore. your brag packet is getting too long. you’re thinking of asking chatgpt to help, but you know i won’t get you anywhere. you’re still trying to run your club at school, keep up with your new part-time job to save a little money before college tuition hits — but there are 15 applications due tomorrow and you still have 3 essays left to write. it’s 3am. redesigning your spotify profile is looking really good right now.
one of your teachers is annoyed at you for not communicating enough and is starting to regret saying yes to your letter of recommendation. senior activities are happening and you want to go! just be there and enjoy your last year.
sorry, you’ve got a 20-page ap lit report due instead. 3 hours till midnight, only 500 words in.
you try your best on your application essays. you pull out all the big guns — the struggles of your family, being an immigrant, your deep love for frozen yogurt, your commitment to your sport and how it’s shaped your character, your role model in life, your favorite word, your favorite color, your favorite thing to do before bed…
god, is sleep looking good right now? or is that just the lack of iron in your system and your swollen, red eyes talking?
and then december rolls around. wait, sorry: there are two more applications to do. these are safeties anyway, but you didn’t put enough effort into your reach and target schools. you procrastinated too much.
formal is tomorrow! last-minute decision.
sorry, wait again. you forgot an application. the deadline passed. i’d like to say "better luck next time" again, but there isn’t one.
and then comes beautiful, blooming march. half of your friends already got accepted to good schools. some girl who sits across from you in ap gov just got into harvard. she’s the only one. but she did stuff really similar to you … hmm, how come?
your friends get into your dream schools. you pull out your camera to record your decisions.
damn. no acceptances.
you struggle with deciding which school to go to.
should you go to a school with a 95% acceptance rate or community college?
you went through all that stress, just to end up somewhere that’s fine. somewhere you could’ve struggled less for.
and that’s the american education system! it’s strict, powerful, expensive, and tough. the stress it adds to your brain and body is insane. the reward might be worth it, but is it as costly as the sacrifice?
look around at other systems. look at sweden, london, australia. the funny thing about o-level and a-level exams is that even though they’re tough, they’re just exams. australia has final year exams too, but universities only look at grades. they don’t care about your volunteer hours, your sports achievements, or your ice cream flavor of choice.
it’s funny how a country that fails to teach its students basic things, like where their own states are, expects so much from them just to get into a "good enough" university.
it’s time for me to enter this torturous tunnel this fall. let’s see how i perform. i hope it makes for good entertainment.
I've thought about nothing else for four years but this school. This big, important school, with all of its history and tradition and really super teachers. And I dedicated myself to it, completely, heart and soul, believing in its power, believing in its ability to get me where I needed to go: Harvard. I thought of nothing else.
Many of you out there can attest to that fact. I was on my way and nothing could stop me! And here's the really funny thing: after four years of slaving away, I go home today, and I found this: I'm not going to Harvard. I got the tiny envelope. The one that reads, Sorry, Paris! We're not interested. Try again next year. Love, Harvard.
And the thing that's really funny here is, who in the world deserves to go to Harvard more than me? Have you seen how hard I've worked over these past four years?
— Paris Geller, Gilmore Girls