The Consuming Anxiety of College
Although it feels as if only yesterday my teachers were enthusiastically kicking off the school year, my junior year is coming to a quick, and a somewhat unwanted end. Despite the many ACTs, school projects, and even social relationships that dragged this school year out, there’s no denying that senior year is dawning upon my classmates and me; a year that will really test our ability to ward off senioritis – you’re average AP kid’s procrastination times two.
Consequently, many of us are already fretting about the colleges we’re thinking about applying to; incessant stressing over our mediocre transcript that will soon turn into our ticket in. I am no exception to this, as I’m just your average Asian AP student, loading on as many APs as I possibly and humanely can before I leave high school. But through it all, I’ve come to an absolute fact that many of us cannot ignore if we plan on standing a chance at getting in to the college of our dreams: I don’t stand out.
As it stands, I have one extracurricular activity in addition to my mostly A’s, with B’s sprinkled throughout, transcript. I’m not in National Honors Society, I’ve volunteered for about 3 hours total so far, and well generally, I don’t do much to gain recognition in my school. In the mentality of my friends, this is considered college application suicide. However, even those who are currently in National Honors Society, have an almost obscene amount of clubs and activities under their belt, have been recognized nationally in some way or another, and even have that perfect 5.0 GPA fret about their chances of getting in – to Ivy Leagues anyways. Yet the relationship is the same for students like me, aiming for that half-match and half-reach college that we desire to attend. So the question is, “What can I do to make myself stand out to college admissions? How much can you do when your chance is in piece of paper in an ocean of others that are never going to be given a second look?” Well the answer is ridiculously simple: write a kick-butt essay.
Clearly, my chances aren’t helped by my less than mundane record. In fact, I’m willing to bet that at least half of the students in my class don’t have a great record either. But just because I don’t do the normal things other students do, doesn’t make me worse than them. What I lack for in records and achievements, I make up for in something I learned from my AP Psychology class: Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualization.
Self-actualization’s definition is the motive to realize all of one’s potential. At first, I didn’t exactly understand what this meant. It seemed rather vague and subjective, as did much of the other theories we had previously learned. However, it wasn’t until I began to question some of the quirks I had did I truly understand what self-actualization was.
To name a few idiosyncrasies, I practice writing with my left hand in my free time, being righty dominant. I teach myself how to fight with a bo staff after school, for about an hour to two hours a day. I usually read four books simultaneously and make good progress in each at the same time. All of these things are strange, to say the least, and at a glance, hardly helps my chances of impressing anyone. But give it another look real quick, and I’m sure the question “Why?” comes into your mind. Well to me, that’s a no-brainer. It’s because I want to improve myself in every single way that I can, or as psychologists would call it, self-actualization.
To be put out of psychological terms, I write with my left hand because I think it’d be awesome to be ambidextrous. I train with a bo staff to practice my fluidity and strength. I read four books at the same time in order to test the limits of my memory and improve it if anything. The reasons I give may not be commonly shared by other people my age, but it’s what sets me way apart from the students who just join clubs because it’ll look good. I only do things that would better improve a skill, any skill for that matter, and that, I believe is an invaluable trait.
Given that I can apply this to nearly anything, be it learning how to play an instrument, start a fire from scratch, or learning a new language, the possibilities are endless. I truly believe that a student who’s motivated by just learning anything is worth more than the top ten students combined. Sure, they’ll offer brilliant minds, but narrow ones at that whereas I may not be a true expert in anything, but have knowledge in so many other things.
This is perhaps an audacious claim to some, but that’s precisely what I’m aiming for. I stand out. No more do I seem just a lazy person who doesn’t want to join every club that’ll try to impress the college I intend to go to. I don’t even look that bad for my A’s and B’s transcript. The point is I stand out in your mind for the different things I do and the very theory behind it.
So now my question to you is, “What are the things you do that set you apart from others and what makes you do them?” That is the key to a stand out college essay.
Complements to Timothy Chan
