Point: Pressure makes diamonds
It’s no coincidence that students who prioritize their college applications throughout high school often do the best after graduation. By striving to build a strong college resume, students take advantage of the biggest opportunity in high school: the flexibility to explore their abilities and interests. Thus, a competitive culture surrounding college applications fosters vital growth in students by encouraging academic and community engagement, discovery of interests and development of essential life-long skills.
The belief that colleges look favorably upon extracurriculars motivates students to engage with their local and school communities. Without the incentive of boosting their resume, many students wouldn’t participate, thereby missing out on important opportunities to connect with peers, experiment with various career paths, expand their knowledge and develop essential skills like organization, time management and leadership. Whether they’re playing a team sport or singing in the school’s choir, students can find belonging within a community while pursuing a stronger application. Even when students join an extracurricular solely for the college admissions boost, they often form a real connection with that activity and continue their participation even after graduation.
As students join various extracurriculars to boost their resume, they also benefit from the opportunity to explore or discover their interests. A student interested in a certain field may not feel incentivized to follow their curiosity, but a competitive college culture motivates students to get involved in the fields that interest them, acting as a key gateway into forming passions and understanding their life goals. For example, a student interested in business may join a business club at their school to boost their application, but soon, they end up finding a genuine passion for entrepreneurship. A high school student doesn’t need to know their life trajectory, but seizing the opportunity to try out various activities is a necessary first step for their future. By encouraging students to discover their passions, the college admissions process helps students begin finding their place in the world.
For some, the prospect of building the best application may seem overly competitive, superficial and mentally taxing, but it’s important to remember that students are simply investing in themselves early. Going to a top university is not necessary for future success, but if students are willing to push their boundaries in high school — through enrolling in the most rigorous classes, studying for standardized tests, striving for accolades or taking on multiple extracurriculars — they can build a solid foundation for future success.
Stress isn’t inherently bad. Biologically, our body uses stress responses to instigate action, and without it, we would lack vital motivation to complete urgent tasks or learn important skills. Thus, committing oneself to the high demands and pressures of a competitive college application culture can be very productive for students if balanced well with a healthy social life and mental health. It’s important for students to understand that the value of competitive college admissions doesn’t come from acceptance to a top university — it comes from the experience built in the pursuit of a strong resume. These habits and skills, paired with a strong work ethic, are a much better indicator of success than the prestige of higher education will ever be.
Counterpoint: Crumbling under the competition
College has become an end-all-be-all goal for some students. As the social value of education increases, so does the depth of activities needed for selective colleges, resulting in an unnecessarily stressful application process. Many students overexert themselves with college-level classes, standardized tests and extracurriculars. Taking up copious amounts of time, a competitive college admission culture creates unnecessary stress, stifles passions and favors a success-driven environment.
According to Harvard’s common data set for the 2023-2024 school year, admitted students had an average high school GPA of 4.2 and a 50th percentile SAT score of 760 and 790 for reading/writing and math respectively, demonstrating the incredibly high standards for admission. Instead of easing students into more taxing workloads, competitive college admissions instead force students to sacrifice sleep and lunch breaks for just a few more hours of work time. As stress drags mental health down, academic performance suffers, causing even more stress and forming a vicious cycle. Students shouldn’t have to sacrifice their mental, emotional and physical health just for a coveted college acceptance.
While leadership is an important skill to develop, students can overextend themselves by holding too many leadership positions. When running several clubs becomes just another point on their checklist, students end up doing the bare minimum, hurting the club. Without long-term commitment or actual passion, those extracurriculars are less likely to have lasting value beyond high school and leave less time for actual interests.
Additionally, competitive college admissions culture pressures students to decide on a career path prematurely to create a more cohesive application. When searching for activities to “look good” to colleges, students often ignore their genuine interests to participate in extracurriculars that fit into their narrative. In essence, marketing oneself to colleges takes priority over exploring future aspirations.
In such a competitive environment, students are under constant pressure to produce results. As a result, the need to be the best is overly emphasized. A key objective of K-12 education is to cultivate a love for learning, but hyper-competition only takes winning into account. In their extracurriculars, students strive for the “easiest” awards instead of ones they care about winning.
Additionally, success-driven views lead to interpersonal rivalry — gossiping about competitors, for example, could help with attaining a highly-coveted leadership position. Ironically, even though schools heavily emphasize collaboration, competition for higher education often turns toxic, damaging peer relationships.
Some may argue that without a competitive college admission culture, students wouldn’t push themselves to pursue activities outside of their comfort zone. But in reality, the extreme pressure only leads to burnout and toxic mindsets. In trying to do it all, students are ultimately crushed by the weight of their commitments.
Despite college being the mere first step into adulthood, competitive college admission culture puts too much pressure on preparation. Instead of spending all of high school devoting themselves to activities just for the sake of college admission, students should focus on personal development, keeping in mind that college will merely be a single step in the much longer journey of life.
