College applications are, hands down, the most stressful time in an international high schooler’s life. The endless essays to write, tests to take, and simply the anxiety of the decision of colleges and future career paths makes it not only a nightmare but also an important turning point in a student’s life. As a middle schooler, I am not afraid to say that I am already incredibly anxious about the process, and spending every spare second in my day to ponder every meticulous detail on my application has been part of my daily life. However, is it really necessary to do all of this? Will it really help in my actual application? Let’s dive into this topic through this article.
College application may be too general of a term to talk about, so as of now, we are going to specify this to American college applications, as colleges in the United States are known for their requirements for all applicants to write multiple essays about their lives, list ten extracurriculars and five honors (awards or membership in a prestigious organization, etc.), recommendation letters, and have other extensive options for students to include portfolios and other information about their lives. This leaves countless applicants every year staying up all night completing their application and leaving out everything else in their lives. Thus, this is where businesspeople start to make money. There are agencies that are set up to either complete students’ applications for them, plan their extracurricular activities and honors for them, or simply become a “ghost applicant” to the student. This type of service is particularly popular in China as more and more Chinese students choose to study abroad for university, – some as early as middle or high school. More agencies are offering more diverse services that help students of all ages and needs to achieve their academic aspirations. I personally think that, to some extent, having an agent helping you out with your application process is a great choice, which is similar to having a counselor that you would have at school. However, the toxicity comes in when the agent starts to overshadow your own identity and your own perceptions of your life and puts the priority of getting into a good school over actually expressing who you are as a person to the university.
A lot of my peers are choosing to complete their applications, for both American high schools and universities, with the help of an agent. Some, are applying to American high schools as that is a recommendation of their agent, suggesting that it would be beneficial for them to obtain a higher chance of getting into a better university. All I heard from them were complaints after complaints of SSAT test scores, essays that they were required to write, and the “annoying” applications they were completing one after the other along with huge piles of schoolwork, outside-for-school classes, and activities. When I asked them whether they thought all of this would actually be beneficial for them when it comes to their final college applications, they said, “Not sure.”
Based on everything I have heard from my classmates, it is not hard for me to form my own opinion on this whole situation – do we really need agents and huge amounts of external aid for applications, and should we be anxious about our extracurriculars and honors? Short answer is no. The essence of college applications is to see if you are the right student for their university. If you really, genuinely, truly, wholeheartedly love the school, you will know what direction you want to go for when you are crafting your application. For example, when your university likes students who apply knowledge to real-life scenarios (hint: One of the nine Ivies is known for this trait; take a guess in the comments below), you may want to take part in more research projects, internships, or maybe even some entrepreneurial endeavors. Thus, when you really love a school, you will be able to create an application that is able to truly be effective in helping you get into the school you want to attend in the future. This may sound like cliché advice, but having an agent to do these things for you may lose the purpose of applying to an institution – you are the person that will be receiving the education, and when someone helps you manifest it, the only person that will be confused about your future and your actual goals is yourself.
The moral of the story is that you can choose to have someone by your side when you are completing your application, but always ensure that you are the captain of the boat for your future, not someone else.
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