On Shotgunning (Yes, This is About College Admissions)

There's a term students are using to describe a specific approach to college admissions.

No, not shotguns like that…. Photo by Joakim Orrhult on Unsplash

Shotgunning.

College applications are probably not what you think of when you hear “shotgunning.” You likely think about guns. There is also a very specific drinking term, which is what Wikipedia has as the definition of “shotgunning.” It also recommends looking at a form of cold reading used by mediums and psychics. Shiogunning would seem to be an incredibly inappropriate thing to discuss with teenagers on any number of levels. Yet alongside guns, beer drinking, and television psychics, “shotgunning” applies to college applications.

Shotgunning–v. To apply to as many colleges, especially extremely selective ones, as possible to up the odds of getting into at least one.

This is not a new term. It is almost entirely used by students themselves, rather than anyone in charge of any part of the admissions process. Advice from The College Board, Common Application, or NACAC will never use the term. (And good thing, too, consideri…