No More Checklist, No More Cookie Cutter, No More Well-Rounded

By Abby McGinn

Over one month has passed since school has started and already students are stressed with their daily routines. For many of them, those routines become too much for one person to handle and create enormous amounts of stress that results from the drive to be perfect. This drive comes from the pressure to get into college, from being compared to one another, and from the stress students put on themselves because they are afraid to fail.

The expectations of high school students have increased significantly in the past decade. Teenagers are expected to be model students: they should earn perfect grades, obtain a job, and have a hobby–whether it is art, sports, music, or theater. By junior or senior year, all teenagers are supposed to have an idea of what they want to do with their life after school and begin starting the college application process. They are used to going through their scripted response to when family members and friends ask them their life plans.They are supposed to be responsible and have everything in their life under control. This leaves students with little to no time to just be a teenager.

One of the main reasons the bar has been raised is because of college. Colleges have become increasingly selective in recent decades. What used to be an easy school to get accepted to 20 years ago may be very competitive now. According to Ivywise, college acceptance rates in 2016 dropped as low as 4.69%, the lowest it has ever been. Some of the more difficult ivy league schools have been even more selective in recent years. For example, in 2005 Northwestern University’s admission rate was 33%, but their acceptance rate for 2016 was 10.7%.

Interestingly, in a TED talk by the Dean of Freshman at Standford University Julie Lythcott-Haims, titled “Throw Out the Checklist Childhood”, Lythcott-Haims discusses it is often the parents that have created what she calls “the checklist child.”  In her talk, she emphasizes the need for students to maintain a healthy life mentally and academically. “They [students] could say what they’ve accomplished, but they couldn’t necessarily say who they were,” Lythcott-Haims explains. However, parents want to make sure they provide everything for their child in order to be successful. The problem is, over time “everybody’s got the checklist.” Since everybody has the same idea of what to do to make their child a good student, they now have to push their child or themselves to work harder. They can’t just be a good student anymore, they have to be the best.

As I try to put everything together for college applications, I keep questioning what colleges are looking for. What do they expect their ideal applicant to look like? How many clubs do they participate in? What GPA is high enough? What community service do they expect? While talking to my peers, they fear that they will get rejected from their safety schools because the admissions staff will notice some flaw. There is no thinking about what you have already done. It is only thinking about what you still have to do to please everyone–to complete “the checklist.”

Although it’s very easy to fall into this mode of thinking, it’s not healthy. Students shouldn’t compare themselves based on how many activities they do, or what SAT scores they got. If everybody does the same number of extracurriculars and gets the same grades, does that really make them the best candidate for colleges?

According to an article from Career Vision, colleges and employers are often looking for “commitment and quality, not quantity.” In other words, a well-rounded student can be someone who is dedicated to the few things that they do rather than minimally participate in a variety of activities. As an ideal student doesn’t mean that they are perfect at everything. The article also states that a well-rounded individual focuses on the three “R’s”: “Responsibility, resilience, and resourcefulness.” Being well rounded does not mean that a person does everything. It is based off being organized, reliable, and tough.

What is really concerning is how teenagers today are so worried about being perfect and well-rounded that they are putting their health and well-being at risk. An article from USA Today in 2014 states that 27% of teens stated that they have experienced “extreme stress” during the school year. It also states that high school students do not know how to cope with stress properly; they often skip meals and don’t get enough sleep, which are two main responses to dealing with stress. These habits are not healthy, and can lead to health risks later on in life; at an extreme, they can potentially shorten one’s lifespan.

Why should all of this worry about being perfect come to these health risks? All of this fear of not getting into college, not getting an “A” on a test, it leads students to become consumed in their stress. It is important to work hard in school and try your best, but where is the fine line between trying hard, and working so hard that students cannot eat or sleep?

Ultimately this idea of a “checklist” student should not exist. In a world where teens are trying to fit in and be accepted, putting this image of what they are supposed to look like to parents and colleges is not healthy. High school students build up their schedules to the point of no sleep because they need to do everything to fit that perfect student picture. Although it gives people a reason to work hard, there should be a limit of how hard one works before they crash from the enormous amounts of stress. If someone is worried about what they look like for college, they shouldn’t do every single activity in hope to be noticed. Instead, they should focus on the things they like to do and commit to that. Colleges are be admitting unique individuals–not cookie cutter or checklist people.

 

http://careervision.org/colleges-employers-seek-well-rounded-applicants-just-busy-ones/

 

https://www.ivywise.com/ivywise-knowledgebase/admission-statistics/

 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith_Herrman/publication/23566788_Adolescent_stress_through_the_eyes_of_high-risk_teens/links/53eb6bb40cf26f1f689d6272.pdf

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_UPUmlyY5M&feature=youtu.be