I was watching this short film on Youtube about college admission and it has impacted me. For most of us who are in high school we are concerned about our future and how much high school will affect it. We think good grades and involvement in clubs will get us to the highest ranked colleges and we think being well rounded is necessary for admission. But does it really matter if we have all A's or if we are in 20 different clubs? After watching this film I have finally found an answer: not really. In my freshman year of high school I felt stressed and I felt like I wasn't doing enough to get in college. We are taught that colleges want the best of the best but really colleges want a hard working, passionate person. I'm totally convinced that adults have been telling us the wrong things these past few years. But the competitiveness in admission to colleges pressures us to strive for the #1 position. I hate how all we are worried about are grades when we don't focus on ourselves and what we are passionate about. But first I'll share you a personal story. I was a stressed out person in my first year of high school. I had high expectations of myself and from others. I had be the best and rise out on top. Because of these high expectations I stressed out about every small thing. I stressed out about time, homework, studying, test scores, report cards, and most importantly my behavior. I had nightmares at night that I didn't finish homework or a teacher is yelling at me or I failed a test... it was horrifying! I had dreams about my school and it was a recurring theme. I would freak out if I had a B in a test or on my report card when in all actuality it didn't matter because it's still a good grade! These expectations stressed me out that I felt angry and frustrated at myself for not doing better. And whenever someone congratulated me on getting good grades I felt nothing. I didn't feel accomplished or joyful I felt nothing. I didn't feel like I worked hard to get that joy that I look for. I mean it isn't hard to get A's sometimes and that's what made me feel like I wasn't trying my best. Having good grades and joining a lot of activities won't guarantee you a spot in a good college, it's the passion and drive you have for something that gets you where you want to be and it has taken me years to figure that out. The passion I want to pursue is psychology and I strongly believe that Yale is the right place for me. I devoured their website and whenever I enter it I feel excited that one day I could (hopefully) be apart of it. They even say on their website that they want an essay that tells them who we really are. I don't want to be known as that kid who always got straight A's, I want to be the kid who was known for his passion to learn psychology. Finally I understand what I have to do to enjoy my high school years and that is to do things that I enjoy doing. I'm not going to take rigorous classes solely because colleges want that! I'm going to take rigorous classes because I want to. It's the same with clubs, I want to join the Gay and Straight People club because I want the school to be a more friendly atmosphere for the gay community at school. I want to join tennis because it's a sport I could be good at. We shouldn't focus on what they want, let's focus on what we want. It's my high school time and I should be learning and making friends, not staying up at four in the morning studying for an AP class that I don't enjoy. If you're in high school or you're going to high school I strongly advise you to watch the film, it's truly inspirational and it makes you look at things differently. Don't take high school for granted, use it as a chance to learn things not to get a couple A's and not learn anything. I'll rather get a B in a class that I learned a whole bunch rather than get an A and not have worked for it. Oh my gosh this post is super duper long but I hope you got something out of it. The film is 28 minutes long so pleeeeease make some time to watch it, you won't regret it. Stay motivated!
The short film: Congratulations, We Regret to Inform You: the college admissions secret
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