College Application Season (Why Your Grades Are Not a Reflection of You)
By Summer Wadleigh
The month of November for most seniors in high school is often associated with thoughts of early decisions and the opportunity to reflect on every academic failure you’ve had to emotionally recover from during high school. Amidst all of the statistics and the rankings involved in applying to college, it’s easy to find yourself weighing your sense of self worth alongside your honors GPA. While education is recognizably the foundation of societal advancement and innovation, it like all things, can be flawed. The education system does not provide a universal method and not every student is able to display strengths that could hold value in the real world. An academically successful student often derives more from resource and opportunity than a genuine understanding and application of the information, thus contributing to various conflicts. An SAT score or a transcript attached to an application may not be a proper representation of their capabilities.
One of the most prevalent falsities in determining a students academic efficiency is the emphasis on standardized testing. Every college application requires some form of a standardized test score, whether it be the ACT or the SAT, and often includes a general range of accepted scores that determine the likelihood of granted admission. Though the 400-1600 score and the percentile ranking leave an array of circumstances uncalculated upon submission.
Available resources can be the defining factor of a students performance on these tests. A student who has the financial means to hire an SAT tutor and is able to pay for multiple attempts is going to receive a blatantly different score than a student who could only afford to take it on the free day provided nationwide and did not have access to outside assistance beforehand. Testing anxiety is also a leading factor of poor performance. With 1 in 5 teenagers (aged 12-18) suffering from a mental illness, it is not uncommon that a student’s anxiety would impair their performance on a test. Even if they are in full understanding of the content and how to apply it, these feelings are purely situational and their scores will still be negatively impacted regardless of prior preparation.
An additional factor that could contribute to a poorly representative academic track is the classes offered by the school. While this is a more of a case by case situation, it nonetheless creates a disadvantage within certain students/applicants. Naturally, competitive colleges are in search of competitive students, people that will act as innovators and leaders in the outside world. Though the difference in AP, AICE, and IB class access among schools establishes a rift in equal opportunity. Students who have taken every honors class available to them simply will not have as impressive of a repertoire as someone with 8 AP’s under their belt.
Academic success or a competitive application are also often a reflection of a students life outside of the classroom. With 42% of students who attend city schools being in high poverty schools as well as 21% percent of students in town schools, finances and performance can maintain a poor coexistence. Equal opportunity continuously rifts as students in poverty often have to contribute in providing for their families. These jobs result in late nights and less time to do homework which can falsely perceived as solely procrastination at a glimpse.
In summary, a student’s potential for success is often influenced by their circumstances, sometimes resulting in hindrance upon times such as these. College applications can be a daunting reminder of internal and external challenges, things that you feel may improperly represent you. Though it’s important to keep the view of yourself at a big picture perspective and acknowledge that the limitless facets of you are not defined by your C in calculus. Allow the decisions you make upon graduating high school to reflect your infinite potential, no matter what that looks like for you.
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“But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” – Stephen Chbosky.