The Superhuman Applicant Pool

After studying obsessively about college essays and the stats of college applicants, I have come to a ground-breaking conclusion: today's college applicants are nothing short of superhuman.  Don't believe me?  Okay then, let's take a look at the following applicants*:

Jamie, who played soccer and ran track for four years.  She was passionate about music and performed in many ensembles.  It all earned her national recognition and allowed her to travel cross-country.

Audrey, who won first place in the Texas Music Teachers Association's High School Division Piano Concerto Contest (that's certainly a mouthful) her senior year.  She placed at state level the three previous year and she's performed with tons of orchestras.  Audrey was captain of her high school's Academic Challenge BTeam, salutatorian of her graduating class (GPA of 6.62/6.00), and a National AP Scholar.  She conducted scientific research the summer following her junior year of high school on the gold-labeling of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and cervical cancer detection using fluorescence spetroscopy.  (I have no idea what half the things in the sentence mean, but it sounds really impressive.  Apparently Harvard had even more qualified applicants because for some reason they rejected her.  That shocks me and makes me seriously wonder how qualified their accepted applicants are...)

Adam created and maintained many advanced websites, including some at no charge for nonprofit organizations.  He won several school and regional awards for computer science.

Robyn was twice named Orange Country Impromptu Speech champion.  She held leadership positions in the French and Drama Clubs, as well as in the Aspiring Authors Society and a humor magazine, The W.C.--both of which she founded.  Robyn was also varsity team mascot and house manager for school plays.  outside of school, she donated more than 1,000 books to children's homes, served as a volunteer library storyteller, and wrote an advice column for the local newspaper.  Before sending out her transfer applications, Robyn signed a book deal with Random House to publish a young adult novel, created a website based on her search for a literary agent, and worked on an anthology of humorous short stories.

The list goes on.  It seems that every applicant in this book (please see asterisk) did something incredible!  They either founded a big charity, owned a business, helped children in Crotia with war trauma, taught autistic children to communicate, made ground-breaking scientific discoveries, won national awards, or did something else equally amazing.  Not to mention that they all have unbelievably high GPA's and test scores (the girl I'm looking at now had a 4.63 weighted GPA).  These applicants have done just about everything short of winning the Noble Peace Prize.

Now, before I go any further, I just want to applaud these hardworking applicants.  I admire their hard work and amazing credentials.  On the other hand...

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO COMPETE WITH THAT KIND OF COMPETITION!?!?!?  Giving kids prizes for reading holds nothing against teaching autistic children to read!  Having a lead part in a community theater play is boring and mediocre compared to performing plays around the world!  I've never gotten anything published, never made a scientific discovery, haven't traveled the world yet and have yet to be leader of anything!  How am I supposed to compete with these superhumans?!?!?!  (Also, please note that I am referring to these applicants as "superhumans" in the best of ways.  Really, they are truly incredible and I mean it as a compliment.)

Hmmm...perhaps I'm just a late bloomer and that's why I haven't accomplished anything this awesome yet.  Or at least I'm hoping that's how the colleges will see it.

Yeah, I know that Princeton Review obviously picked the cream of the crop for its book, but still...I go to school with people like this!  People with jaw-dropping GPA's, who take an unbelievable number of AP classes, who are vigorously training to become professional ballet dancers and soccer players...

I have to think of some way to make myself stand out.  To give me a competitive edge.  Hmmm...

Okay, when I come up with something I will make sure to post it on here.

 

 

 

*All of the information about the applicants has been taken directly from the Princeton Review's College Essays that Made a Difference 4th edition.  So all rights go to Princeton Review!