College Admissions

College essays are by far the most irrational thing I have ever attempted to write. And this is after multiple years of submitting utter bullshit for lit essays.

The essence of the issue, as far as I understand it, is that we are attempting to convey our identity to a school, so that they may gain a deeper understanding of us. Instead of numbers, we are supposed to jump out of the page and form something more real. However, the essays are extremely contrived. How is it showing who we really are if the entire point, as far as the student sees it, is to make themselves stand out even more? Most everyone attempts to discuss their flaws in such a way that they show their own path to splendor, or else they take the other and equally as cliche route, in which they simply detail one of their true accomplishments. How does one judge a person when all they are presenting is their most intriguing, interesting sides as vetted by everyone under the sun they could get to read their essay?

"Oh! I know!" said the colleges. "We'll alleviate the contrived nature of the essay by having people interview with us. That will show us their true selves!" Except not. It's the same inane bullshit, tooting one's own horn for the purpose of engaging the interviewer. It is not a true representation of one's character, and I fail to see how colleges can even pretend that that is the case.

I'm not sure if this post is the product of a rational, logical thought process or whether it's merely me expressing my discontent with the strive for attention that is the college process, but regardless it is rather infuriating.

Time to go write my own contrived essays!