In my freshman seminar class last year preceding the Annual Western Slope College Fair, Kathy Klug passed out packets advertising that we could receive extra credit for attending a college seminar or walking around the college fair and asking colleges questions from a list that she had created. Having an abysmal grade in the class, I decided that I would do both, and after the day I was shocked by how many requirements a college’s “ideal student” was necessitated to have.

I showed up at the district theater at 10am the morning of the college fair, notebook in hand, readily waiting to do the work necessary to receive my five extra credit points. Soon after I sat down, two women got up on stage and began to talk about their college, and the expectations that many schools around the country have for applicants. At first, it sounded encouraging. They spoke about how getting into college wasn’t all about a person’s GPA or SAT score, but about their well roundedness. To prove their point, they set up an activity.

Ten volunteers from the audience went up to the stage, and each had a hypothetical GPA, which was shown in the form of a paper, pinned to the front of their t-shirt. The first student wore 4.0, the next 3.9, the next 3.8, and so on. The women from the colleges then read off various facts about each of the GPAs, such as “the student with the 3.0 has been on varsity soccer since sophomore year” and “3.7 has been the leader of the environmental club since 2013.” Each of these qualities gave students “points” towards their chance of acceptance. By the end of an excruciatingly long 45 minutes, the student with the 3.8 GPA won by being class president, having a varsity letter in soccer and hockey, and by dancing ballet year round. If this were an actual student, she wouldn’t have time to eat, sleep, or breath, let alone maintain a 3.8 GPA.

For starters, being a dancer, I can vouch that it is a hard enough feat to even accomplish managing my ballet schedule without any other extracurricular activities. I spend 14 hours a week at the dance studio, and trust me, there is no way there would be no room to letter in hockey AND soccer as well. It is unrealistic for a student to have time to be proficient in all academic, arts, and athletic fields. When the seminar was over, I brushed it off, telling myself that these women were trying to prove a point that grades are not everything, and that it was exaggerated.

This year, I returned to the college fair and was left with the same impression as well as a question: Do these schools care at all about a happy and healthy applicant? A student could have a perfect academic record, and a balance of sports and arts, but also could be clinically depressed and one of the most stressed people out there, yet the college admissions workers wouldn’t know, or seem to care. As long as the student was well rounded on paper, they would get in.

Something about that seems off to me. I’m not going to stress myself out to the point of exhaustion by overexerting myself to fit into the “ideal” student category. It has changed my dream colleges from being some of the top schools in the country to being somewhere where I can go without putting too much pressure and stress on myself in high school. It has made me realize that I can find so many schools that do not have so many ridiculous requirements that still meet my ideal picture of college. This isn’t to say that I am not going to try my hardest, but I’m not going to overexert myself to get into something that lasts four years. I couldn’t be more thankful that I went to that seminar as a freshman, because it has changed my perspective on how to proceed in High School immensely.