What the Upcat results don’t show

The results of the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (Upcat) are out. It isn’t just students who were anxious, but their families also waited with bated breath. Yesterday, families finally woke up to the news of whether their child can consider UP their new academic home. Out of 147,437 Upcat applicants, 18,350 or 12.44 percent were accepted or waitlisted, making it one of the most competitive universities in the country. After all, getting into UP means the opportunity to get quality education for zero tuition, a rare combination. With rising inflation and more economic uncertainty on the horizon, few families can opt to ignore a school’s price tag.

College admissions are already a stressful rite of passage for senior high students. Our uncertainty about our future, brought about by political and economic instability and a fast-evolving job market, has only served to increase the stakes of such milestone decisions as to which college to go to. Moreover, preparing for college is no longer just the student’s challenge; it has become the family’s cross to bear.

The day the results come out is the culmination of the years it took to get there. The student, of course, does the main work. They go through their schoolwork with the added pressure of knowing that their academic transcript can make or break their college application. This is also the student who went through the pandemic disruptions and the back-and-forth pivots to remote learning. They sacrifice social and recreation time to attend review classes to gain a competitive edge, just at the time when they should be relishing their friendships before they go their separate ways.

Parents do their parallel responsibility. They also sacrifice time and effort, best exemplified by the daily morning routine: getting kids ready for school. In the Philippines, this could mean as early as 5 a.m., depending on traffic and commuting conditions. The school drop-off is also a fast-becoming exercise in patience. Parents sacrifice on the big things as well. They save up money for years, perhaps decades, so that their child can afford as many quality choices for schools as they can get into. I know of parents who have strategized their career paths, such as working for an academic institution and gaining employee benefits or choosing a job that allows them the time to tutor their kids personally, based on what will help their children get into their school of choice.

All this emotional investment is based on a firm belief that college is a guarantee for a better life. Currently, however, a college degree has never felt more useless and at the same time more essential than now. A college degree alone no longer provides the financial security it once did. Even a diploma from the “big four” universities no longer gets you in front of the line. Latin honors do not make a dent in hiring. And yet, gosh, go try looking for a job without a college degree. It is practically impossible to get one, even for jobs that do not seem to require college-level skills, such as being a server or a salesperson.

The increased stakes of our children’s education no longer begin at college. As I began looking into preschool for my child, I am disheartened to see exorbitant tuition, limited slots, and rigorous admissions testing, eerily similar to the college process. The stakes aren’t just higher; they have come for us earlier.

With such a stacked scenario, we have no choice but to follow where the pressure leads us. Every decision regarding our child’s education feels high-stakes. There is no room for error or mistakes. We need to optimize every decision and enroll them in the “best” schools, even if it breaks the bank, ironically worsening our financial stability.

Unfortunately, we can pass this anxiety onto our children. They get anxious about their grades and their chances for college. They have a low tolerance for mistakes. They feel the need to be perfect to compensate for the extremely competitive environment. This can lead to them burning out and increasing their discomfort with the new and unfamiliar, making them less able to succeed in college, becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Increased uncertainty about our future can push us into an all-or-nothing mindset. For example, some families abide by “UP or bust.” When the stakes feel overwhelmingly high, it is good to remember that not all decisions are as final as they feel. There are multiple routes to a desired outcome. It can be through the Upcat, via transferring, via another school, or via another path entirely. And all those choices can lead to good things.

As parents, we can share in this moment with our children and help them decide how much weight they should put into the results, whether accepted or not. We can be with them as they go through uncertainty and help them feel confident in their choices, even when no guarantees are offered. There is so much more to gain in college admissions letters than just the results.