The college application process can be one of the most important and stressful situations in a high-school student’s life, especially for those who attend prep school.

The college admissions process has been around for quite sometime, it is still far from perfect.

According to Us News, between 1980 and 2012, the overall college enrollment rates increased from 26 percent to 41 percent. As the number of students enrolling in high education is increasing, the question is asked what can colleges and universities do to improve the admission process?

A prevalent complaint regarding the application process is that it focuses on the SATs and ACTs. Writing for the New York Times, Michelle Hernandez, former admissions officer at Dartmouth College stated that it would be best if the SATs and ACTs were eliminated and replaced solely with SAT subject tests and AP/IP tests.  Hernandez says, “At least SAT subject tests help colleges put grades at different high schools in perspectives, and AP/IB exams show ability to do college-level coursework.” According  to Hernandez, another problem with the SATs and ACTs is that they correlate with families’ socio-economic status.

Emily Grussing, ’15 says that although the standardized tests can be unfair, “they’re still necessary. Not all schools are going to teach at the same level. A 95 in geometry at one school does not always mean the same thing as a 95 in geometry at another school.”

“Standardized tests,” Grussing adds, “help to distinguish between a student who is getting high grades while taking challenging classes and a student who is getting a high grade because the courses they are taking are easy.”

According to Tim Cheney, director of Williston’s college counseling office, “one of the primary advantages of optional testing policies is that it creates greater opportunity for students to compete in the admission process regardless of their economic status. Studies have show,” Cheney adds, “that the strongest correlation between academic success in college is academic success in high school.”

Michelle Hernandez also believes in eliminating preferences, from the process such as legacies and college athletes. “To address affirmative action,” Hernadez writes, “colleges should rely on a socioeconomic flag for students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds which would take race out of the equations.”

Tim Cheney, Director of Williston’s College Counseling office says that although he thinks the college process is “pretty fair,” he believes “there could and should be more access and more clarity regarding application fee waivers for those students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.”

The Common Application is a relatively new way of applying to schools that lets the student fill out just one application for all colleges he or she will be applying to. College can add in additional supplements for students to fill out as well.

According to Erin An, ’15, “The common application made the process a lot easier for me than it could have been. It was helpful that I could just fill out one application and send it to all of them. It saved a lot of time.”

Bruce Poch, Director of College Counseling at the Chadwick school in California wrote in a New York Times Article that it is time to “kill electronic applications and return to actual paper.” Poch writes, “I think it could have the effect of reducing multiple applications for students and would slow down the reading of an application by admission folk.” He states that students would be more deliberate about where they apply and “not just pressing another button to add another application like they were shopping at a Christmas Eve sale.”

Cheney says that the Common Application creates disadvantages as it “leaves little space to really highlight student’s passions or special interests.” Cheney adds, “I worry that students will just look more and more similar in a process where you want to stand out. If everyone were given a space to do something personal, it might be more revealing, allowing admissions officers the opportunity to learn more about the essence of each applicant. ”

A version of this article appears in print on May 1, 2015.