The 2024 college application season is upon us, and with that comes a lot of pressure and stress for seniors. Twelfth-graders across the United States and the world are navigating the process and trying to meet daunting deadlines.
According to a Poets and Quants article, college “applications have surged with a 6% increase in applicants compared to the previous year, totaling over 1.3 million first-year applicants to 834 institutions.” This is mainly driven by easy access to application portals like the Common App, UC, and CSU. These websites are the most used and applied because of the streamlined process. The Common App has 1,000 plus private and public schools, so many students use this portal. The UC (University of California) application has top-ranked schools in California, such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSB. UCLA is the most applied school on this portal because of its easy access and is the dream school for many. CSU applications have well-known schools like SDSU and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO).
Each application portal has its unique form and requirements, often including extracurriculars, essays, supplementals for each college, and recommendations, which each senior is tasked with completing. The Common App is unique because of the number of schools and how the application itself works. It has a centralized App with information sent to the colleges that want it and individual applications for each college. It includes supplements like “Why Us?” or “Something about your Major Interest.” Some schools also change things in their individual portals by asking different questions to get to know your personality better and who you are.
The UC application has a set of four personal insight questions, which are in shorter form, as well as an activities section. The CSU application is the easiest to apply to because of the lack of required work. There are no essays, so all you have to do is fill out the activities section. Both the UC and CSU applications do not have letters of recommendation.
Application season is very stressful, but it also depends on how many schools you are applying to and how much time you want to dedicate to your applications. The ease of access can create more pressure to apply to more and more schools because it is as easy as clicking a button.
The problem is that applications are only one of the things seniors must do because they still have to manage school, extracurriculars, and other responsibilities. These applications require considerable work to fill out the necessary information. While some might be technically optional, if you want to be a competitive applicant, you must do everything, especially with selective colleges. The pressure students put on themselves when applying creates the most “perfect” and well-rounded application that includes impressive activities, grades, and essays. It is a huge burden to place upon yourself.
College applications have also changed in recent years, with schools having test-optional policies allowing students to choose whether they think submitting their scores will help them. It is optional because colleges believe standardized test scores may only partially show a student’s potential or achievements. The holistic application is something that most, if not all, colleges talk about today, which is a significant change in how admissions are handled. While some schools have gone back to no longer being test-optional, it will be sticking around at most for at least the next couple of years, if not forever.
The financial aspect of college admissions is also a considerable part of the factors contributing to the colleges you apply to because of the amount of aid they offer and the cost of each application, which can range from 50 to 100 dollars per school. Sometimes, local community-based scholarships are also provided in students’ towns, such as TTCF. Also, national scholarships help lower costs, which you must apply separately.
The whole college season can be daunting. Some families spend thousands of dollars on college counselors because they want to have any possible advantage. The application process is unique because everybody will have their own experience. There are thousands of videos on YouTube of people getting rejected from their dream school after they put so much work into it, which shows how much people value college decisions.
Overall, the college application process can be very stressful and affect your mental health. There is no accurate formula for getting into schools, and it can seem very random because of what each person gets rejected from or accepted. It is essential to know that the college you go to does not define who you can become.