Apps Schnapps

With US college applications just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about why it’s so important to get into one of the top colleges in the states. Logically, most colleges in the US would provide one with a good education, especially at an undergraduate level. Still, I see people all around me applying to almost the same 8 colleges, all of which are ranked as the best. Obviously, I see the point in trying to get to one of the best if such a lot of money if being spent to go abroad, but looking deeper, I wonder whether some people just apply to these colleges because they are forced to by society around them- a society which indirectly states that getting into only these places of prestige is what determines success.

I see the underlying competition, the signs of disappointment when one finds out that someone with a higher predicted grade is applying to the same college, the insane stress levels and the doubt of a final acceptance. At the end of it all, I’m wondering, what is it that makes these colleges top-ranked anyway? How is it that one defines which educational institution is better? Even after establishing a constant way of judging the above, what makes us as students want to get into these so called top colleges?

I feel as though it is not just a self-motivated goal, but also a part of ourselves that needs to prove to everyone else that we are capable of going somewhere great. The name matters to us, as it makes us feel better and more accomplished and in a way superior to other people. I realize that these reasons make us sound like shallow human beings, however, I fell it is quite apt at this time especially to point out that a lot of our college applications are based on insecurities about ourselves.