The absurd images flooding my social media newsfeed this week were quite entertaining. I think my favorite may have been the one of what is clearly Michael Jordan’s body, catapulted over countless defenders, dunking a basketball. The funny part was the poorly photoshopped head of a 17 year old high school student superimposed on the athlete’s shoulders. The caption read, “Jr’s application to play varsity basketball at (fill in elite college name here).”

As if getting into college were not stressful enough…

The week of March 12, 2019 revealed a new level of ugliness and privilege in what already seemed to be an undeniably slanted and daunting process. Fifty people were involved, including famous actors, CEOs, attorneys, athletics coaches at elite universities, SAT/ACT administrators, an exam proctor, and the CEO of a college prep company.

Two types of fraud were committed: some parents paid between $15,000 and $75,000 per test to help their children get better standardized test scores (either by correcting answers after the child took the test or by having another individual actually take the test for their child); others faked athletics credentials and bribed coaches as much as $400,000 to have their children recruited as varsity athletes (even when they had never even played the sport).

These acts of fraud and lying and cheating were committed by parents, adults, prominent members of their communities who claimed they wanted “the best” for their children. I think it is time we start asking ourselves what it is that is truly “the best” for us.

Perhaps a good place to start is for students to ask themselves WHY they want to go to college before they even begin to ask themselves WHERE they want to go.

Taking the time to reflect honestly about our interests, strengths, curiosities, and what we need to work on might point us in the direction of schools that fit us, rather than sweatshirts with college logos that do.

If you have no interest in classes (as Olivia Jade Giannulli admitted to her millions of followers on her YouTube channel), perhaps you would not be best served to go to a school like USC or to college at all for that matter. There is nothing wrong with choosing a different path. In fact, it might be “the best” choice for you.  And in the end, isn’t that what truly matters?

By focusing on the acceptance letter as the end goal, we are missing the real point of the process. In fact, the process itself is part of what is valuable about college admissions. Working really hard, and earning grades, scores, and accomplishments on our own is valuable in itself. Showing grit and getting through the tough classes and long nights of studying teach us that hard work is rewarding and allows us to grow. If that is taken away or if we are given the message that we are not capable of overcoming the really difficult parts of being a student, how are we ever going to get to that place that is “best” for us?