College is the defining moment in our lives. It solidifies our hopes and aspirations, giving us the tools necessary to decide what we want to do with our lives. Unfortunately, for such an important event, it’s very hard to get in.

Gone are the days of our elders, when according to gradeinflation.com, the average GPA accepted by most colleges was a 2.9, and  moderately well on the SAT with a score around 1000. Today, colleges have upped their game. Texas A&M University allows for anyone in the top ten percent of their class to be automatically accepted in. If you’re not in the top ten percent, well you’ll have to make a 1360 on the SAT, along with extracurriculars like art to set yourself apart from the other fish in the sea looking to get accepted.  Not only this, but the tuitions for colleges have skyrocketed.

In the past 30 years or so, the United States has become synonymous for having very expensive colleges in tuition. By comparison, tuition debt in most European nations is virtually non-existent. Even public school colleges in the U.S. can cost up to $63,000, for a school like NYU, and that’s not factoring in expenses, vacations, and learning abroad. It seems that getting into college is not only a hefty price to pay, but also requires the utmost diligence and perseverance from high school students.

While college may be very hard to get into these days, there’s still the option of a community college such as Austin Community College (ACC). When enrolled in a community college after two years, students can then transfer into the college they want, as long as they stay in the State of Texas.

While college is stressful, the night is always darkest just before the dawn. Yes, preparing for college, finding the right scholarships, and achieving prestigious grades isn’t an easy thing to do. But by going into college, students gain important life lessons and build on their strengths to discover themselves.
   Whether it’s becoming a doctor and attending medical school, or becoming a circus performer and attending the Circus Conservatory of America for a degree in circus arts, college is essential. However, with the U.S. being ranked so low on the global scale in public school systems, it begs the question: if our colleges are so prestigious, then why don’t our high schools ‘prepare’ students for some of the hardest Universities, such as Stanford, Oxford, or Harvard.

The answer is simple: the public school system will not likely get you on track to scoring high on your SAT and getting into college. It remains that students who go the extra mile, to take SAT prep courses, to study SAT level vocabulary to improve their English level, or by studying through the excellent free Khan Academy have that chance to get into any college they want to. It’s not about starting to study the night before a test; it’s about self-perseverance and a determination to succeed beyond the norm.