With growing opportunities knocking on students’ doors, admission processes become stricter than ever. It is not a secret that even “overly-accomplished” students end up getting nowhere. Is the bar set way too high or selections are unfair?
Certainly, a transformation from a basic high-school student to a mature adult with a life burden thrust upon their shoulders is both emotionally and financially exhausting. Seniors, having to prepare for a million of exams, which are especially pricy, are also expected to devote time to extracurricular activities. The main irony is the fact that growing up, we have been told to sleep early in order to get at least eight hours of a good night’s rest. However, with schedules being bombarded with tons of tasks, it seems impossible to stay mentally and physically healthy. It is not a surprise, therefore, that a considerable percentage of students have been diagnosed with at least one type of disorder.
Unfortunately, the situation is exacerbated in the U.S: colleges with top rankings establish requirements that even natives cannot tolerate. A counterclaim is presented by almost everyone favouring this extremely pressuring system – that a four percent acceptance rate can be justified by how prestigious those universities are. Of course, there are genius machines speaking 20 languages, taking 30 APs, being all-state athletes, but even those are rejected on unjust grounds. Activities characterizing students as highly intellectual are discredited nowadays (also called “typical Asian activity”, which is racist in its way) but irrelevant points in application forms are considered valuable. Even colleges themselves are not fully able to address the discrepancy – in their ideals, what matters is financial background.
This is yet another issue. Those raised in poor conditions, especially minorities, obviously had no choice but to excel in class. Admission officers clearly do not care about students who grew up in toxic households or suffered (and still do) from a serious mental disorder.
Whatever is the case with the absurdity of rejection emails, one thing is clear: students are victims of a capitalist system.
Gulchin Aliyeva
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