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Why Is It Important To Get Into College So Competitive?

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Living in a highly competitive world, having a college degree is essential for many to gain more knowledge about what they are interested in and for others to get good jobs. Indeed, the US labor market has changed significantly in the last 40 years to be based on high-skill jobs, which mostly require a college degree. As a result, the percentage of Americans who go to college has grown constantly in recent years . However, getting into college isn’t as easy as it used to be. Now, it is so competitive, highly selective and very expensive, which affects many students and their families in different ways. Getting into college has become so competitive since the percentage of students applying for college has rapidly jumped, especially of international…show more content…
Now, colleges put more emphasis on personalities and out-of-curricular activities, beside the scores of standardized test and high school grades (Cook,2014, p.8). However, the amount and quality of emphasis varies among university, which puts more pressure on students and affect their lives (The Economist, 2015, p.3) . One of the impacts is that the illusion of the right courses and the right activities that boosts their applications and make them unique . Many students feel confused about what courses they should take and in what activities they should participate to make their application fantastic. Such a confusion leads many of them to feel stressed. According to Cook (2014), a high school counselor says that confusion increases stress among students and their families (p.8). Moreover, many students start considering their college choices and preparing their application at an early age. According to Cook (2014), some students start thinking about college in ninth grade by engaging in out-of-curricular activites (8). Another impact of college high selectivity is the significant decline in acceptance rates in recent years. Perez-Pena (2014) points out that college acceptance rates have constantly dropped including public and privates colleges
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