The Wonderful World of the College Application Process
Everybody makes the college application seem like a big scary ferocious monster that requires great strength and intelligence to overcome. In reality, it’s just another stepping stone in the game of life that isn’t all that scary but is rather simple when you condense the process into a few key points, such as writing the essay and getting letters of recommendation. The best way to think about college applications and everything you have to do when applying for college is to take it one step at a time.
The first reasonable step of the college application process is to look at colleges. Doesn’t matter where, how big or small, how many books are in their libraries, just look at colleges/universities. One recommendation would be that if you have strong feelings towards a certain major/minor, look for schools that excel at that major/minor since they will best be able to prepare you for that topic in the future. Don’t, and I repeat don’t, apply to a school just because a friend is going there or because it’s an Ivy League school with the best reputation around or for some reason along those lines. For example, I know a family friend that did pretty well in high school and could have gotten into and thrived at any state or private school but opted for community college because she wanted to stay close to home to remain with her boyfriend. Community college isn’t bad, it’s even a great option for some people in certain circumstances but you get the point. If it doesn’t have your major/minor or your applying just because of the name, applying to those colleges is like taking 70 dollars and just burning it. That money could easily be spent on something better like celebratory tacos after completing the college application process. Another thing you don’t want happening, at least according to M.N. Stabler’s College Admission Passion Play, poring over brochures and reflecting on-campus visits creating no “demonstrated passion”.
After looking at colleges, the best part of the whole college application ensues, the essay, and the test. The essay in recent years has become the most important aspect of your college application because the colleges “just want to get to know you better.” — Brown University, Rice University, etc. The essay pretty much makes or breaks whether you get accepted into a college or university, so choose a life-changing experience, moment, situation, etc. Due to this, for colleges to determine whether you are the best candidate for the atmosphere, they are trying to create at their establishment. Let’s take a look at Jay for example. Jamal is interested in majoring in African-American studies so to emphasize this he decided to write his college application in Black English. Colleges want a personal essay but they want an essay that is grammatically correct and punctual. Though it shows how much he values his culture and history, as in June Jordan’s Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan “White standards our official and popular judgments of verbal proficiency and correct, or incorrect, language skills, including speech.”, his essay will probably just be disregarded and forgotten about since the colleges don’t really like essays that aren’t punctual or aren’t grammatically correct. When writing the college application essay, it’s crucial importance to know your audience. Another important aspect of the process is the test, either the SAT or ACT, that the majority of applicants take. Though many colleges are moving to test-optional or just not requiring tests since this is being written while applying during the Covid-19 pandemic. Usually, the top tier schools require the ACT or SAT since academics are crucially important to their success, and depending on the college/university, one test is preferred over the other test.
Besides the audience, there are a few other factors one has to consider when writing your college application essay. Those factors include contexts, genres, mediums, etc. A genre is a category of artistic composition, defined by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. According to Dan Melzer’s Everything’s a text, “Genre’s shape and are shaped by composers’ purposes, audiences, mediums, and contexts.” Another important factor to consider is when writing the essay is the persona portrayed by the author. The author’s persona is their vocab, stances they take, their style and voice, etc. Persona is what gives character to a piece of literature.
The college application process might seem challenging but it’s not all that bad if you take your time. Taking the college application process/essay in a step by step, part by part process makes your life significantly easier and everything less stressful.