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Seniors and Juniors Have College Admissions on Their Minds and
Loathing of the SAT in Their Hearts
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By Lasso Online Staff
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 Over a hundred juniors and seniors responded to a Lasso Online survey this month about the pressures of college admissions. In both grades, most students indicated that they were moderately stressed about applying to college and that their choice of college would have an impact – but not a huge impact – on their future life. The students indicated that parents had played a significant role in the schools they researched and/or applied to, but parental pressure was definitely not the only determinant in their choice of school. Junior year was the grade in which most students began to seriously think about college, although some began their search in 7th grade and others had not yet begun to think about their the application process. The most noticeable survey result was the students’ strong aversion to the SAT, especially among seniors, who have already sat through it.
When asked to rate their stress level about the process of applying to college on a scale of 1-4, with 1 equating to “You have to apply to college?” and 4 equating to “I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” 43% of juniors ranked their stress level at a 2 and 41% ranked their stress level at a 3. Far fewer were completely relaxed or completely frazzled about the process: 7% rated their stress level as a 1 and 9% rated it as a 4. In the senior class, 42% rated their stress level as a 3; 25% rated it as a 2. 13% of seniors were remarkably relaxed and rated their stress at a 1, while 21% were about to have that nervous breakdown and rated their stress at a 4. Quite a few seniors commented on how lengthy and difficult the application process is. “Applying to college is like a full time job, but you pay to do it!” commented senior Jakee Zaccor. “We need a whole class period to be able to work on college applications and essays. It’s really hard to balance work and applications,” another senior responded.
Next, students were asked to decide how much of an impact their choice of college would have on the course of their life on a scale of 1-4, with 1 equating to “The college experience is what you make it,” and 4 equating to “The specific college I attend will determine my lifelong success and happiness.” Juniors thought that college would have more of an impact than their senior counterparts; 59% of juniors selected 3, compared to 32% of seniors. Very few in both classes believed that college choice would completely define later life; 4% of seniors and 2% of juniors selected 4. 40% of seniors selected 2 and 25% selected 1, while 30% of juniors selected 2 and 9% selected 1.
Parental pressure was a significant factor in the application process, but not overwhelmingly so, according to the students. Students were asked to rate how important parental pressure was/is in deciding which schools students researched and/or applied to on a scale of 1-4, with 1 equating to “We never spoke about it” and 4 equating to “They’ve already decided where I’m going.” 51% of seniors rated parental influence at a 2; 34% rated it as a 3. The parents of juniors were similar: 39% of juniors rated their influence at a 3, while 48% rated it as a 2. There were a few extremely involved (and extremely uninvolved) parents in each grade: 11% of seniors and 7% of juniors rated parental influence as a 4. 4% of seniors and 6% of juniors selected 1. “I think some parents don’t realize that the name of the college doesn’t matter. It’s whether you fit in and are comfortable there and feel that it’s a place where you believe you can do well that matters,” commented a junior.
Because Mason’s seniors are at a different point in the admissions process than its juniors, students in the two classes responded differently when asked to give the year in which they began to seriously think about or prepare for the college admissions process. 51% of seniors responded that they had begun in 11th grade while 26% said that they had only truly begun considering applications this year. Not surprisingly, only 2% of seniors had not yet begun to really think about college. Far fewer seniors had seriously thought about college admissions before 11th grade; 11% selected 10th grade, 2% selected 9th grade, 4% selected 8th grade, and another 4% selected 7th grade. Among the juniors, 35% selected this year and 33% selected their sophomore year. 15% selected 9th grade, 2% selected 8th grade, and 7% selected 7th grade. 11% had not yet begun to think about the college application process.
Juniors and seniors were heartily in agreement when asked whether the SAT test is a fair way of assessing a student’s potential for success in college. 83% or seniors and 76% of juniors responded that it is not a fair assessment; 17% of seniors and 24% of juniors believed that it is. Seniors, who have already sat through one or more SATs, had plenty to say about the dreaded tests. One senior was particularly scathing about the value of the SAT: “SATs are not important but are useful in determining whether someone will make the school look good.” Another senior believed that “four hours of your life should not determine where you go to college.” And yet another commented that “SATs may be good for testing standardized knowledge, but they can’t test work habits, dedication, and interest in diverse topics.”
But despite the stress and anxiety over the application process, some students are staying sane – or at least trying to. “Take an off -year and chill,” one senior wisely commented. Another senior had an extremely good piece of advice for underclassmen: “I wish that I had visited college campuses as a freshman because it would have given me another reason to want to do well.” And one junior summed up his entire college situation quite succinctly by commenting that “people who go to college are slaves to the Man,” yet still rating his stress level at a 3.
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