Admissions Impossible?

By Paul Price

As November rolls around, the mood of the average high school senior drops. Fewer invitations to social outings, for those you can even accept. Less spirit at football games, for those you can even attend. Overall energy level is down when it needs to be up. All because of one thing: college applications. As one of the average high school seniors fitting into this category, I find that no matter what entertaining activity I decide to partake in, even if it is but 15 minutes, I always hear that conscientious voice in the back of my mind saying, “Hey, I know you’re having fun and all, but you could be doing your UC application instead.”

Actually, if I hadn’t loaded my schedule with AP classes in an attempt to get into a good college, I might in fact be having fun with this process right now. This task has given me a chance to build a resume and reflect on my accomplishments over the past several years. And I’ve been able to quantify my community service hours and hear a few interesting stories from my parents as they help answer questions pertinent to them. Some parts of the application aren’t bad at all. I don’t mind filling in my name and home address, the stuff I know I’ll get right! I’m a fan of the no-brainer pages. They don’t mentally tax you, yet you feel like you’re making quite the progress.

Of course, the most commonly cringed-over part of the application is the personal statement. No other two words send more chills down the spine than the aforementioned. The big difficulty in the essays is that one can be an extremely good writer, but when it comes to putting pen on paper about yourself, you freeze up. Trying to brag about your accomplishments but trying not to make yourself seem overly conceited is by no means easy. In addition, the tedious work really slows you down, such as calculating the hours you’ve spent doing an activity over the past four years. That can become quickly tiresome, although the final result is fun to look at when you are done.

I’m aware that this is a blog for the UC application, but not knowing where I will be accepted, of course I’ve had to pad my chances by applying to other colleges as well. In the big picture, the UC application isn’t the worst. Other than the two big essays, there isn’t a lot of other mandatory writing. Some of the other applications have required that additional short questions be answered. As well, you can apply to the 10 UC universities at once with the click of a mouse, with none requiring supplemental information. Furthermore, the UCs don’t require letters of recommendation from teachers or counselors.

On another positive note for the UC application, I was filling out another college application when it alerted me that I had five minutes before I would be timed out. Not wanting to lose the information I had inputted, I quickly hit the “save” button. Somehow I missed that day of kindergarten during which we learned that “save” actually means “have the server go down and lose all your information.” I was very frustrated. Nothing to this degree has occurred during my dates with the UC application. The layout is relatively simple and the process is straightforward. So, all things considered, the UC application is above mediocre. If you’ve ever wanted to kill 10 birds with one stone, go ahead and fill out the UC application.

Paul Price is a senior at Rio Americano in Sacramento