Every year seniors complain about the college process. It's stressful, and how are we supposed to decide our futures?

There's generally whining and moaning about everything from AP tests to turning in forms on time. But you don't really know what it's like until you've hit that glorious senior year. Even last year, as I was taking my standardized tests, I felt stressed out, but I nonetheless felt as though my college decision-making was so far off. I mean, everyone wants a good test score, but that's about as far as it went when I was a junior.

I think the first time the thought of college really struck me was when I had to take the PSAT my sophomore year. But, still, we were sitting in a hotel room with our friends and in my mind all I was thinking was, "Yes! I get another day off of school!"

After each section was finished we were told to put our pencils down … but if someone wasn't finished with their work then they kept writing for as long as possible. Many students talked about their answers to the various problems, which I'm pretty sure is against the rules, because then (as I witnessed many classmates doing) people would flip back to that section and fill in their skipped questions. Some people even decided to make use of their memorization abilities and remembered math problems, wrote them at the top of their reading section and worked them out, then would flip back to the math section as soon as they had completed reading. It might not have been fair, but that was how it was happening.

I always thought that Uni students lived outside that realm. That they cared about a school's fit to them and not which school has the best reported statistics. But, as I witnessed sophomore year, then again junior year, and even now senior year as people are getting their SAT II scores back, we put a lot of emphasis on how well we look on paper.

We all know that student who we think is on the duller end of the spectrum. They get pretty solid C's, sleep constantly during class, exert little effort, and don't participate in any extracurriculars … and then BAM! Their test scores are absolutely phenomenal. We just excuse it because we know we're smarter than them. Or so that's what we think.

But somewhere deep down our brains our telling us that it's not only about getting into college; doing well on these tests is about verifying our own knowledge. I've know people to go into testing centers while under the influence of marijuana, and they perform miraculously well. So, is that really saying something about the person's individual capabilities? Probably not. And most of us probably know that. But the test is nonetheless seen as an accurate reflection of ourselves.

We've all been told that standardized tests can't really measure how smart we are. And most of us would agree the "teaching-to-the-test" method of No Child Left Behind has been fairly ineffective. But, all the while we can't seem to get it out of our heads that there is some validation to the ACT and SAT, so we stay up and learn how to fill in bubbles and answer questions we already know (and this is different from teaching to the test how?).

I mean, we may've all learned about A squared plus B squared equals C squared in geometry freshman year, and we may all be able to understand the reading passage about Susie's trip to Grandpa's house, but if one person can prove that they actually know how to read the test-writer's mind better, then they should obviously be deemed smarter.

Many prestigious schools still rely on the statistics from ACTs, SATs, SAT IIs, APs, etc. to judge a student. And, it's hard to say that there's a better way to measure someone's capabilities.

Sure, there has been a recent move toward looking at transcripts, extracurriculars, and interviews, but the idea that test scores are still a part of a the college admissions process is what keeps students stressing out over these multiple-section tests. Because we all know that even if we don't think it's a good system, the schools do, and that's what matters.

It could be worse. I had two French students stay with me this summer, and they told me about "Le Bac," which is essentially their equivalent of the SAT. Except they only get one chance to take it. It's a one-shot deal, so if you're sick, have a family emergency, or are suffering from really horrible cramps … well, too bad, you better suck it up and perform well anyway. Though, as they explained to me, the one way they wouldn't have to take the test on the assigned dates (yes, it's actually a multiple-day test, instead of trying to judge all a student's academic potential within a four-hour time slot) was if someone in the school died (because apparently everyone else would then become extremely depressed and morbid).

But, no matter how extreme it seems in other countries, there is still that feeling of pressure and anxiety even here in America with our greater flexibility. We can take the ACT or SAT or SAT II or AP, and we can take them when we want to sign up for them, and if we aren't happy with our score then we can just retake it later. It's pretty open and fits pretty well to the student. But you look around and people are still freaking themselves out. They force themselves to eat foods they don't like because they're healthy and "help the mind," and they study huge books that cost $50, and get 12 hours of sleep (even when that's the longest they've slept since they were 10).

It's partially due to the strive to get into a good college, but potentially more so to the need to prove ourselves among our peers. We're not rewarded for getting straight A's, and just because we're in three clubs, three sports, and volunteer on weekends, doesn't mean anyone is going to come up to us Friday after school and say, "Congratulations on being such a productive, active student." Instead, when you get a good test score your name is put on the Online Gargoyle, you're given notes on your locker, and other people are wowed by your performance.

We know somewhere in the backs of our minds that none of this is an accurate measurement. Maybe it's in the right ballpark, but we all know that one point doesn't mean that we're smarter than our friends. We may want to believe that at times, and it really can be a hard thing to realize, but sometimes we need to take a step back and laugh at how much we're tangling ourselves up in the imperfect college system.