Letter to the Editor

Originally published on April 15, 2015

Dear Editor,

As it is now April, I have heard back from all of the colleges that I applied to and although I have tried my best in school, I have been accepted into none of them. Now, I’m not the first person this has happened to, nor will I be the last, but in a way, I am glad I wasn’t accepted into a college.

Not only will it be significantly cheaper by going to community college; California Community Colleges offer a Transfer Admission Guarantee and six UC campuses guarantee admission if you meet a minimum G.P.A requirement, ranging from a 2.8 to a 3.4.

I have heard back from all of the colleges that I applied to and although I have tried my best in school, I have been accepted into none of them.

Although I am not bitter towards colleges, the application process or financial aid, I believe some points in the process should be changed:

Admission results sent electronically

I feel that if I pay $50 to $80, I deserve to have a letter sent to my house with the result of their enrollment decision, even if it isn’t an admission. Not only are letters electronically sent, these notifications are uploaded and released all at once, on one massive form letter.

The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)

The FAFSA in my opinion is all about numbers. According to my FAFSA application I am expected to pay around $34,000 for tuition, which I have nothing close to. Now on paper, my family should have this money, but because of unfortunate situations, we have nothing close to $34,000. There isn’t a place on the FAFSA to explain extreme situations.

The UC/CSU System

The University of California and California State University systems are in some serious trouble with overpopulation, skyrocketing tuition and increased competition with no end in sight. In my opinion, UC president Janet Napolitano is out of touch with the general public. Governor Jerry Brown said when referring to UC Berkeley admissions, “It just feels that whatever used to belong to the normal people of California is not available anymore, so you have foreign students and 4.0 folks, but just the kind of ordinary, normal students who got good grades but weren’t at the top of the heap — they’re getting frozen out.”

The UC and CCSU systems are in some serious trouble with overpopulation, skyrocketing tuition and increased competition with no end in sight.

Throughout my years at Lowell, I have taken some notes from my college endeavors and here are some of the highlights.

• 50 pounds of paper wasted on college advertisements I haven’t asked for.
• Countless calls from colleges at dinnertime wanting to discuss their colleges with me. Again something I didn’t ask for.
• A couple thousand dollars spent on college applications, standardized tests, score reports and AP tests.

Lastly, Lowell is very competitive (as we all know) but during senior year there is tension present in the air. There are a few points I wish the Lowell community would keep in mind.

• One’s safety is another person’s reach. Try not to act like a college won’t be hard to get into (even if it is easy for you) because someone else (I guarantee) will struggle to get admitted into that college.
• Posts on social networks. I know, you got admitted to a college, (perhaps your dream college) but posts like this can add salt to the wound. Imagine someone seeing your post saying you got admitted into a college while they got rejected.

Seniors, we made it. Four years ago we walked into the doors at Lowell and in just a month, we will be graduating. I’m excited for this opportunity to learn and achieve even more next year and hopefully I’ll see some of you in just a few years.

Congratulations Class of 2015!

With Love,

Anthony Gianni