If the college application process were a medication, common side effects would include: stress, insomnia, and in my case, hyperactive eating. With standardized tests, college interviews, Common Application personal statements, résumés, and supplemental essays, it’s not hard to see why many Bromfield seniors are feeling the heat of the college application process.
One of the many challenges of this process is time management. On top of a strenuous workload, extracurricular activities, and school sports, Bromfield students can easily become overwhelmed. Weekends become havens not for socializing, but rather for catching up on homework and filling out another college supplemental essay.
“My stress mainly comes from the addition of college applications and deadlines to my ordinary school work and extracurriculars,” Bromfield senior Robert Shelton told me. “To put it differently, even if I get all my projects and studying done, there’s still applications to think about.”
One of the obvious ironies of the college process is that the heavy workload is mostly voluntary. In other words, many students voluntarily take part in harder classes, extracurricular activities, and school sports on top of college applications. Some would argue that students are bringing the stress unto themselves, by choosing to take a more difficult path.
In reality, however, there is a lot of pressure to take the more difficult path. The college application pool is becoming more and more competitive by the decade. I don’t think this is because students today are by any means more hardworking than they were 20 or 30 years ago, but rather that nowadays, there are simply more kids that want to and have the ability to receive a college education.
Consequently, with more applicants come more rejections. In 1991, the acceptance rate for the University of Pennsylvania was 47 percent—today it is just 12.3 percent. This generational drop in acceptance is consistent for almost every selective college in the United States.
Bromfield senior and class president Clara Wang said, “Just being a good student and having good credentials just isn’t enough anymore.”
As a result, students across the country are beginning the process earlier and earlier. At Bromfield, some juniors have already started.
“What really made me initiate the search for potential colleges was the fact that the grade above me had begun the whole application process,” Bromfield junior Alexia Lipman said. “I realized that a year from now I will also be applying to schools and I should probably choose a few schools to visit and learn more about.”
The effects of the senior college process have started to reverberate into other grade levels. “College is definitely on the radar,” said sophomore Emily Erdos. “Nowadays, everyone starts the college process so early that college becomes significant as soon as you enter high school… I tend to think often about how what I am doing now will benefit or harm me in terms of the college process. It is not a prominent thing on my ‘to do’ list; however, it often lurks in my mind subconsciously.”
For many, student life at the Bromfield School cultivates even more stress. Wang said, “I think that going to Bromfield makes it so that you have to work a lot harder to stand out among your peers, because everyone is really smart and impressive.”
“Also, it’s a really small school,” continued Wang. “Everyone gets really competitive about who is applying where, because most people think that if one person gets into a school, the school may not accept a second student from Bromfield, which could be true in some cases.”
Many others would argue that this competitive push is actually beneficial. Theoretically, competition should help students fulfill their potential, as it may ultimately improve Bromfield student profiles in comparison to those of the rest of the country.
“Competition among students in Bromfield can be stressful,” senior Nick George said. “However, I think it has improved my high school performance overall. It makes me want to try harder, which has really only helped in the end.”
Although the college application process is and always will be shrouded in ambiguity, one result is almost always certain: the stress is finite. Once the admissions results arrive, Bromfield seniors will all give sighs of relief, as they’ve made it over the metaphorical “wall” of college admissions.
One student who has already successfully climbed over is Bromfield senior Matthew Flokos, who was recently accepted to Dartmouth College as an early decision applicant.
“It feels like a great weight has been taken off my shoulders,” Flokos said. “Before the acceptance letter arrived, there was a lot of stress associated with it because I felt like I should be doing something to improve my chances. Whereas now, I feel like I have a lot more freedom because I know where I’m going and I’m able to look forward to a definite future.”
The stark contrast between the stress and anxiety felt during the college application season and the sense of relief after the process is over may contribute to the pseudo-condition known as “senioritis.”
This condition is a catch-all term for the general decline in effort from the senior class after college application decisions have all returned.
“Perhaps [college acceptance] is as if a fairly demanding course suddenly dropped out of your schedule entirely, giving you a wealth of newfound free time to do as you please,” Shelton said. “It’s entirely possible that some students overestimate this time or get used to it, and realize that by succumbing to senioritis they can add more to that precious pool of free time that eluded them before.”
“I think that senioritis is definitely a result of over-stress,” said Wang. “You spend the first half of the year writing essays and scheduling interviews and balancing your school work, and by the time it’s done, you don’t want to do anything anymore.”
Although there may be sound logic behind senioritis, it is hard to justify giving up academically while teachers continue to pour their time and effort into cultivating more knowledgeable students.
“Teachers are still working hard, and it’s not fair to just completely stop caring about school,” Wang said. “I think students should at least make an attempt to pass the class by the end of the year.”
Bromfield biology teacher and science department leader Deb Pierce has made a concerted effort to combat the senioritis outbreak. In her AP Biology course, “If your grade stays above a B- then you will not have to take the final,” Pierce said. “But if you have a high grade—like an A or B, and it drops 10 points, then you will have to take the final.”
Ultimately, students have a responsibility to persevere, even after the college application process becomes a passing memory. If teachers and community members remember the senior class by its last accomplishments, then one big mistake can ruin the Class of 2013’s reputation, despite years of great success.
So remember: When you get accepted and are just about ready to drop the ball, think about the years you’ve put into building your reputation as an individual and a class. The last memory on your teachers’ minds should be of your achieving academic success—not “forgetting” to do your homework every day.
Bromfield senior Bin Han is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Press.
