Every year it’s the same story. Your teachers tell you, your guidance counselors tell you, and your parents tell you: get ready for college. Students every year fear this daunting process. Why?

The problem is that the American college system doesn’t work.

This year, entrance rates to top universities have been lower than ever; the lowest was Stanford University at 5%. At the same time, colleges have received record amounts of applicants, though the total number of students that go to college has been decreasing since 2011.

This is because more students are applying to more schools. It is recommended and indeed necessary that students apply to multiple schools, but the downfall is that colleges must become more stringent than ever. This further lowers the admissions rate, which then forces students to apply to more schools, creating a vicious cycle.

Admission can be a random process. A college might choose a certain applicant because of the instrument she plays or the rare extracurricular he participates in, but most of the time, these eccentricities don’t qualify one candidate over another. It’s random. A lottery. Luck.

This is where an average high school student reaches the point of the unknown. Nobody tells you how complicated the process really is. Applying to colleges is like being in a bad relationship.

The more applications they receive, the more federal money a school gains. And the more applicants they receive, the more they must turn down. Admissions offices woo you with postcards, emails, and attractive offers to visit campus, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be accepted.

And if you are waitlisted, nobody explains to you how to handle that. Basically, colleges are saying that if the best students don’t choose their school, they’ll let you in off the waitlist.

Most colleges will tell you their decision by April 1^st, and most want you to decide by May 1^st. The major problem is that colleges can’t confirm how many accepted students have chosen to attend until around May 1^st. Then the colleges must decide how many and who to admit off the waitlist.

During that extra month of tiresome waiting, you have to find a back-up school in case you never make it off the waitlist. Since you can never be sure of the outcome, you may fill out housing or meal plan options for your back-up, probably submitting tuition deposits and enrollment fees. But if you do get accepted to your top choice and decide to attend, you can’t get the money back.

The University of Memphis confirms that you are attending their school when you sign up for Orientation. If you want to go to the Honors Orientation, however, you have to apply quickly so you can get a spot. So while you’re waiting to see Vanderbilt’s final decision, you have to make a commitment to Memphis in the form of a $200 down payment. That is money you may never see again.

Students everywhere are settling for schools that weren’t originally their first choices, and that’s okay. You may not have gotten the hot jock or the genius, but you got the nice guy, and in the end, that’s better for you.