Going from moss-covered walls to ivy-covered walls isn’t easy

Getting into college has never been as hard as it is now. Acceptance rates have been decreasing by the year, setting almost unachievable expectations that only the select few can surpass.

Because of the holistic admissions process, colleges don’t just look at grades, but extra-curricular activities and recommendations. This coerces students to pursue humanitarian causes without an ounce of ethical motivation, solely to make their transcripts shine brighter. They sit disinterested in boring, hard classes simply to prove the rigor of their transcript and the extent of their morality to the universities of their choice.

Woodstock is often listed as one of India’s best international schools, for the meticulous education it offers students. But the education does not often translate to elite college acceptances. The college counseling department has been working hard the past few years to organize college fairs that cater to a broad range of students with a varied range of skill sets. However, colleges that visit rarely include the elite universities that most students aspire to go to, and this is not the college counselors’ fault. Elite colleges don’t often travel to other schools, they don’t need the branding. This results in students believing that their university aspirations are too far-fetched, and end up not applying.

Most Woodstockers harbor a passion for sports, but some play them just in order to make their transcript seem more well-rounded. However, sports don’t result in college acceptances but instead, in disappointment. Not a single Woodstock student in recent memory has been recruited to a major college’s varsity sports team.

Students try to partake in a rat-race that they believe will lead them to college. That ultimately leads nowhere, because colleges can see through students’ seemingly moral facades. Instead, discovering and pursuing your passion would culminate in far better results — in college, and in life.