Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

  • admissions.blog

Dream School spotlights the nightmare the college admissions process has become for too many

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Craig Meister

WGCU Public Media in Florida followed six high school students who worked hard to earn a seat at America’s top colleges – and now you can too in the short documentary Dream School.

Reported by Sandra Viktorova, the short documentary below also includes insights from various individuals who work in the higher education industry in America in order to shine light on what for too many has become the high stress world of American college admissions and the various factors that come into play when colleges assess who to accept.

While all those featured in this up close account of the college admissions process make it through in one piece, many viewers will leave wondering why these young adults had to go through so much stress and uncertainty to end up where they did.

About Craig Meister

Craig Meister is a college admissions expert who, for nineteen years, has had the great fortune of providing personalized post-secondary guidance to students and families from around the world.

Filed Under: Admissions Policies, Advice & Analysis, First Person

Related posts:

To The Media: End the College Application Nightmare Stories Parents: Don’t Become Aunt Becky During Your Child’s College Admissions Process Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action and Upends Admissions Process for Top Colleges How to Get Accepted to Your Dream College of Choice

Subscribe to our mailing list

Trending Posts

Many high school counselors mean well but…

Top 20 Undergraduate Business Programs at Mid-Sized Colleges in the U.S. South

Make the most of a college visit this spring

Dear 12th Grader: Don’t Blow Your Ivy Chances Now

Dear 11th Grader: Don’t Screw Up Your Ivy League Chances Now

Most Overrated Private University and Public University in America

Dear 10th Grader: Don’t Become An Ivy League Reject!

Avoid Tuition Anxiety: Put Strong Merit Aid Colleges on Your List

New Dartmouth Essay Prompts Feature Football and Wild Chimpanzees

Another Reason Why Your Common Application Essay is So Bad

USC receives 42,000 Early Action applications, will introduce Early Decision

Now Open: Application for New UC Berkeley 4-Year Haas Business Program

This is what Affirmative Action and Test-Optional looks like at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rice University adds new 500-word required essay to its application

Yale Receives 1,000 Fewer Early Action Applications

Early Decision applicants to make up nearly 60% of Boston University’s Class of 2028

AP vs. IBDP. Which is best for you?

How to Deal with Anxiety During College Admissions (Especially Now)

Is AP Environmental Science a Joke or Justifiable?

Tulane’s acceptance rate is 13%. Only 34% are male.

12 Reasons Scattergrams Lull Students Into a False Sense of Security

You CAN apply Restrictive Early Action and Early Action under the right conditions

Wesleyan University Ends Legacy Preferences in Admissions

UNC and a tale of one – make that four – acceptance rates

Northwestern Releases Regular Decisions, Class of 2027 Statistics

30 Summer STEM Camps for High School Freshmen

Oh, Canada! The Definitive List of Canadian University Application Deadlines

Rolling Admission vs. Regular Decision

The Perfect Gifts to Celebrate Getting Into College

Search Posts By Topic

  • 3 Year Degree (3)
  • Accommodations (3)
  • Admissions Policies (132)
  • Admissions Statistics (90)
  • Advice & Analysis (467)
  • Alabama (2)
  • Amherst (2)
  • AP (6)
  • Applications (93)
  • Applying from India (1)
  • Arizona (4)
  • Arts (1)
  • ASU (1)
  • Austin College (1)
  • Babson (1)
  • Baylor (1)
  • Berry College (1)
  • Boston College (2)
  • Boston University (6)
  • Bowdoin (2)
  • Brown (6)
  • Bryn Mawr (1)
  • Business (2)
  • BYU (1)
  • Caltech (6)
  • Canada (2)
  • Career and Technical Education (33)
  • Case Western (4)
  • China (1)
  • CMC (1)
  • Coalition (13)
  • Colby (3)
  • College Costs (1)
  • College Counselor (18)
  • College Fairs (5)
  • College Life (38)
  • College List (39)
  • College List Deathmatch (5)
  • College Visit (25)
  • Colorado College (1)
  • Colorado School of Mines (1)
  • Columbia (7)
  • Common App (42)
  • Community Colleges (4)
  • Cornell (5)
  • Counseling (3)
  • COVID-19 (8)
  • CSS PROFILE (3)
  • CSU (1)
  • CSULB (1)
  • CU Boulder (2)
  • Cybersecurity (1)
  • Dartmouth (7)
  • Davidson (1)
  • Demonstrated Interest (17)
  • DePaul (1)
  • Dickinson (1)
  • Direct Admissions (1)
  • Duke (3)
  • Early Action (44)
  • Early Childhood Education (1)
  • Early Decision (46)
  • Education (6)
  • Educational Consulting (1)
  • Elon (2)
  • Emergency Management (1)
  • Emory (1)
  • Engineering (3)
  • Enrichment (18)
  • Entrepreneurship (2)
  • Environmental Science (2)
  • Essays (58)
  • Europe (7)
  • Exercise Science (1)
  • Exeter (1)
  • Experiential Learning (1)
  • Extracurricular Activities (37)
  • FAFSA (6)
  • Feature (2)
  • Financial Aid (31)
  • First Person (13)
  • Fly-In (1)
  • France (1)
  • FSU (1)
  • Gap Programs (2)
  • GED (1)
  • Georgetown (5)
  • Germany (2)
  • Gifts (3)
  • Gonzaga (1)
  • GPA (7)
  • Graduate School (11)
  • Hamilton (1)
  • Harvard (7)
  • Healthcare (3)
  • High School (25)
  • Higher National Diplomas (1)
  • HiSET (1)
  • IB (4)
  • IEC (1)
  • IELTS (1)
  • Indiana (3)
  • Industrial Hygiene (1)
  • International (9)
  • Internships (8)
  • Interviews (10)
  • Iowa (2)
  • Italy (2)
  • Ivy League (20)
  • JHU (3)
  • Journalism (2)
  • Kettering University (1)
  • Lafayette (1)
  • Law (4)
  • LD (1)
  • Lists & Rankings (8)
  • Loans (1)
  • Majors (17)
  • Marketing (1)
  • Math (1)
  • Medicine (1)
  • Mental Health (3)
  • Middlebury (1)
  • MIT (7)
  • Montana State University (1)
  • Moving (1)
  • Naviance (2)
  • NCAA (3)
  • New Mexico State University (1)
  • News (127)
  • Northwestern (5)
  • Notification News (4)
  • Notre Dame (3)
  • Nursing (13)
  • NYU (3)
  • Of Note (17)
  • Ohio State (2)
  • Oklahoma (1)
  • Online Learning (15)
  • Open Admission (2)
  • Parents (7)
  • Penn (8)
  • Pharmacy (1)
  • Pitt (2)
  • Popular Posts (10)
  • Princeton (5)
  • Priority (2)
  • Professor of the Month (1)
  • PSU (3)
  • Psychology (3)
  • Public Universities (8)
  • Purdue (3)
  • Rankings (11)
  • Reader Questions (11)
  • Recommendations (10)
  • Regular (26)
  • Research (4)
  • Resume (20)
  • Rice (4)
  • Robotics (1)
  • Rochester (1)
  • ROI (4)
  • Rolling (5)
  • Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1)
  • Santa Clara University (2)
  • Scholarships (2)
  • SEL (1)
  • Sewanee (1)
  • Skiing & Snowboarding (1)
  • SMU (1)
  • Social Work (7)
  • Soft Skills (1)
  • South America (2)
  • Southwestern (TX) (1)
  • Spotlight Series (1)
  • SRAR/SSAR (1)
  • St. Edward's University (1)
  • St. John's College (1)
  • Standardized Tests (44)
  • Stanford (4)
  • STEM (2)
  • Stevens Institute of Technology (1)
  • Student Trips (1)
  • Summer (24)
  • Swarthmore (1)
  • Syracuse (1)
  • TASC (1)
  • Teacher Recommendations (8)
  • Temple (1)
  • Texas (4)
  • Texas A&M (1)
  • Ticker (26)
  • Trending Posts (46)
  • Trinity University (TX) (1)
  • Tufts (5)
  • Tuition (3)
  • Tulane (8)
  • UBC (1)
  • UC Berkeley (8)
  • UC Davis (2)
  • UC Santa Barbara (2)
  • UCAS (5)
  • UCF (1)
  • UCI (1)
  • UCLA (8)
  • UCSD (1)
  • UDub (1)
  • UF (4)
  • UGA (3)
  • UIUC (3)
  • UMass (3)
  • UMD (5)
  • UNC (2)
  • United Kingdom (8)
  • Universal College Application (1)
  • University of Chicago (3)
  • University of Dallas (1)
  • University of New Mexico (1)
  • University of Rochester (1)
  • University of Vermont (1)
  • USC (5)
  • USNA (1)
  • UT Austin (4)
  • Utah (2)
  • UVA (7)
  • Vanderbilt (2)
  • Video Game Design (1)
  • Villanova (3)
  • Virtual Information Session (1)
  • Virtual Visit (2)
  • Wake Forest (1)
  • Wash U (7)
  • Wesleyan (2)
  • Williams (3)
  • Wisconsin (3)
  • Work Study (1)
  • Yale (14)
  • ZeeMee (1)

News Tips | Write for Us | Sponsored Posts
All content © 2025 | Admissions.Blog
Terms of Service | +1 410-526-2558

Copyright © 2026 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in