in the whole article, i read only a couple sentences that explicitly talk about how any of these different approaches would actually benefit students, and what

in the whole article, i read only a couple sentences that explicitly talk about how any of these different approaches would actually benefit students, and what little there was was quite vague. on the other hand, they all seem to directly lower the burden faced by the schools themselves. in particular, knowing what other schools a student has applied to helps the college a lot (are we a reach? a safety? etc) but seems like it could only hurt an individual student. i vividly remember the stress of college applications, but i can't say it seems unnecessarily brutal to me. it is a very important process that will affect the rest of your life, and there is an inherent level of stress in these sorts of things. at the same time, there are a lot of tradeoffs that can be made depending on your tolerance for risk. i applied early decision to a school that was likely to accept me. i filled out one brief application and received my acceptance letter in early december. if your college admissions process is/was hell it is probably because of the expectations you (or your parents) set for yourself.