Dear College Admissions, I Am More Than My Test Scores
By Bryana Cielo
Hello.
I want to go to your school. I am a piece of paper with numbers. A number between 1-5 and a four-digit number out of 2400.
But the second number is pretty low. The other applicants spent $75 per hour for months preparing. But I could barely afford to take the test once. Since this is an aptitude test, my score reflects my true intelligence. Not my family’s ability to pay tutors.
You probably won’t meet me before you consider my application. You won’t know if I have people skills or a good personality. Just if I can memorize formulas and facts and regurgitate them for four years. And then go into a field that most likely has nothing to do with half of the things I learned in high school.
These numbers represent me. And if they aren’t high enough, you won’t even consider me. You won’t look any further into my application. I know.
I know you like things like sports and clubs, but I never was very athletic. I joined the track team freshman year, but my coach told me I missed too many practices for work. She said she didn’t want someone who didn’t care on her team. I said nothing.
All I am to you is a number. A number that is compared amongst thousands of others. All trying so hard to impress. Staying up all night studying for a test that most likely won’t affect the numbers at all. Retaking the SATs three times. Stressing about that one B- in that class that we just don’t understand.
As you accept or reject me from your school, you don’t know what I’m like. Or what I’ve been through. Or what affected the numbers that you see me as. My parents work three jobs each and still can’t support my family. I work four hours a day in order to support myself. I try to study while at work but my boss says he won’t tolerate it. My parents tell me to forget college because we can’t afford it anyway.
But you would have no way of knowing that. As if two numbers could show you all I’ve done in four years. I want to be more than a number. I want a chance to show you that I’m a person. A person with ideas and thoughts and feelings. I can be an asset to your school. You just don’t know it yet.
Sincerely,
3.3, 1550.