College Applications Are Tinder

By Patrick Nie, Press & Written Media Team

That’s right — the system that places impressionable high schoolers into their houses of higher education is nothing more than your average dating application. Where else would you find so many people flexing their best characteristics in hopes of someone swiping right on their profile? Why else would individuals bend over backwards to insert just enough quirkiness into their bios to prove they actually have a personality? Metaphors aside, the college application process can cause a lot of students unnecessary stress and anxiety, so it’s important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of students send out college applications through platforms such as Common App and the Coalition Application. The increasing number of applications each year stems from the notion that it will be difficult to lead a successful career without a college degree. While it is true that each successive academic degree (bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, etc.) has the potential to open doors to new professions or higher salaries, it is important to recognize that the formula for a healthy and successful life has many ingredients and is by no means a direct product of your education. Although many students are aware of this, the college application process still bogs down even the most qualified college hopefuls.

So how can the road to higher education be compared to online dating? Let’s take a quick look at both processes.

Step 1: Creating a profile

Most dating applications employ a model in which another user’s first impression of you is your dating profile, which often consists of your basic information (name, age, location) and a short bio. The bio is your chance to display your interests, your experiences and perhaps even the type of person you’re hoping to meet. However, a character limit forces you to be pretty concise, so you’d want to make a good impression as quickly and creatively as you can.

College applications are obviously a bit more tedious to fill out, asking for your demographic information and details about your family (imagine including all this in your Tinder bio). After this, you move onto a series of short answer questions such as, “In approximately 250 words, tell us why you are applying to Generic University.” This is your opportunity to sell yourself to a college and show your excitement. Maybe you’ve done your research and you want to describe how badly you want to conduct research in the university’s food science laboratory. Unfortunately for you, the person reading your application has read a hundred of those statements that day alone. It’s impossible to be original when writing a 250-word pitch to anyone, whether it’s that handsome chap on Tinder or the Harvard admissions committee. “I love science and history and I sang in my high school’s choir for four years” is unfortunately just as cliché as having “let’s go on an adventure” in your bio. It’s not your fault, though! Recognizing this and making sure to utilize the more important aspects of your application is just part of the process.

Step 2: Supplementary materials

In both dating profiles and college applications, the introductory bio is supplemented with some extra pieces of information — the aspects of yourself that may make or break your “acceptance.” In your Tinder profile, this could be the nine photos you’re allowed to display. In your college application, you are afforded a personal essay and some additional short answer questions.

Photos are really helpful; in online dating, they give other users insight into your hobbies and personality. They also serve as a great way to show off your attractiveness, whether it’s through your physical appearance or your general vibes! However, there’s only so much you can show in nine pictures, and what you see isn’t always what you get. If you haven’t heard of the term already, catfishing is the practice of using deceitful images or creating a false persona to attract people on social media or dating platforms. Low-level catfishing can also include using images or writing bios that don’t accurately reflect your appearance or personality, meaning your date might be in for a bit of a surprise.

To put this into context, the college application process is essentially a huge catfishing system. Students are forced to pile on pounds of makeup and rattle on about how they cured cancer at age eight because if they don’t, they’ll be single for the next four years. On the admissions officer’s end, accepting a student is a gamble because they’re placing their bets on what’s given to them in the application — nothing more, nothing less.

You can even argue that dating apps actually offer a more robust system for getting to know prospective “dates” because the two parties actually get to communicate with each other before making a decision to move forward or not. See how little the person reading your application gets to know you?

Conclusion

The point of this comparison is not to discourage you from applying to college, or to make you regret having gone through the process already. Regardless of how the system works, it’s the only path for those hoping to obtain an academic degree. So, if the whole process is so superficial, what is the point of using it to further your career aspirations? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Does someone swiping left on your Tinder profile mean you should remain single for the rest of your life? Did the insanely attractive dude you wanted to match with leave you on read because you let slip that you enjoy listening to opera?

Or, maybe that girl you reluctantly matched with ended up being the best thing that ever happened to you. She used way too many emojis in her bio and for just a moment, you thought, “Should I worry about her obsession with British sci-fi franchises?” but fast forward three years and you’re planning on having a Doctor Who-themed wedding. The truth is, life after high school will be unpredictable and incredibly rewarding regardless of what happened with your college applications. No one application, audition or tryout defines who you are or who you’ll be with.

It’s also important to recognize that a lot of good can come out of both of these systems. It’s a great achievement to make it into a college you applied to, just as meeting a new partner online can be the start of a wonderful journey. More importantly, if the first date doesn’t work out — or if you were rejected upon asking — it’s the furthest thing from the end of the world! You may not like hearing the phrase, “there are plenty of fish in the sea,” but it’s the truth. What matters is that you keep pushing forward and striving to be the best version of yourself. If you keep your head up and establish a goal to work toward, you’ll have people swiping right before you know it.

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