Uncommon Application

During March 2019, my senior year of high school, the news of the college admissions bribery scandal broke. Mere weeks away from most college decisions being released, members of the senior class exploded in rage. We were infuriated — a dream college acceptance was something many of us had been working towards our entire lives, while the ultra-wealthy would simply bribe their way in. But we weren’t surprised. “Just buy them a building” was a common joke; we knew the rich and famous had their own ways of doing things.

But people in my high-expectations, high-pressure, suburban school district had their own ways of doing things, too. During that college admissions season, I heard more than one story of people hiring professionals to write their essays for them or dedicating hours each day to a sport or extracurricular they absolutely hated — all in hopes of a good college outcome. Where was the line drawn? What extreme would people go to in order to fulfill their community’s expectations?

This question has weighed on me since and is what inspired the idea behind Uncommon Application. In the film, our protagonist succeeds in her morally gray journey, but quickly begins to doubt herself, realizing that she has created a completely fraudulent life. She is forced to come to terms with the harm she has done by taking away a genuinely qualified applicant’s spot and scholarship money. The ending is ambiguous — she moves forward with life, but is shaken by her own wrongdoings. My co-writer and I didn’t want there to be a huge reckoning, but rather an internal one. Losing faith in oneself is the ultimate punishment, more than external action.

My own senior year only ended two years ago, and this story of pressure and imposter syndrome is inspired by my own experiences. Her very literal manifestation of imposter syndrome is an extreme example of what many high school seniors and first years go through, even if their path to college was legitimate. I believe that with this fresh in my mind, I can guide the story in a way that is authentic and loyal to the real experience.