I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I hate college.

Yes, I am only a senior and yes, I have not gone to college yet, but just the application process has turned me off of many schools and made me despise America’s system for higher learning.

First: Why can’t people in the admissions office all be on the same page? If I email a general email account that is monitored by multiple people from the same department, they should all be on the same page. Telling me that it’s okay to pay with a check when it’s not and making me re-submit my application is really professional. Do I really want to trust you with my life when your own employees can’t get the job done? Nah.

Second: Why should students be penalized for a late letter of recommendation? I understand the need for deadlines. Shoot, I’m a journalist, so I live by deadlines. But we, as students, do not run the lives of our teachers, principals, counselors, coaches, priests, youth group leaders, bosses, etc. As students we can remind them to submit the letters, but if someone is a day late, it is not necessarily the applicant’s fault.

Third: Why are application fees so dang expensive? Why do I have to pay a school $75 to have them tell me that either a. I’m not good enough or b. I will owe them over $100,000 over the next four years?

Fourth: Why is tuition so ridiculous? Colleges tell students to reach to achieve their dreams, but they make it impossible. It is a shame that schools cannot educate the brilliant people who belong there because they come from low-income households. Really, why should a college degree cost more than a house? You can’t get a house without a job, which you can’t get without a degree, but you probably can’t get a degree either because tuition is so high. It’s just a vicious circle.

Fifth: Why do I have to wait so long to know if I was accepted or rejected? So far, I’ve heard back from seven of the nine colleges I applied to…but I have a little over a month left before I have to commit to one. Too bad I won’t know from all nine until April 9. No, no, I don’t need to make a decision. I’ll just wait anxiously and panic about not knowing where I’ll be in six months.

Believe it or not, these complaints are directed at different schools, but many are guilty. I only based them off of issues I or my friends have had with the admissions process.

I can understand some of the issues I brought up to a certain extent, but when they interfere with my decision, perhaps these colleges should re-evaluate how they are making themselves look to potential moneybags — I mean, students.