Summary Of College Pressures By William Zinsser

College Pressures Explained 101 College students these days seem to be worrying too much about getting rich in the future than finding something that they will love to do. They think they need to have it all figured out now and forget to take some creative classes and open their minds. College Pressures by William Zinsser, argues that students are stressing too much about planning their futures using mostly pathos. In the essay he states the four pressures that the students face: economic, parental, peer, and self-induced. Zinsser talks about how college students are so worried about getting perfect grades, and under so much pressure to succeed. The article starts off with notes from anxiety filled students asking for advice from the

They realize this is a vicious circle, because everything cost so much they are under more pressure to find a high paying job to have a stable life later, and they forget about dreams they may have at doing something they truly enjoy. Zinsser explains, “Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to accrue $5,000 in loans after four years-loans that he must start to repay within one year after graduation… How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning?” (21). Readers should feel horrible about the unfair pressure that the economy is putting on college students today and want to be able to change it. Another example of how Zinsser uses pathos in this article is the way Zinsser explains how parental pressure is another big issue. Students feel pressured to pursue the career that their parents want them to because they feel guilty that their parents are paying so much money for college that they can’t disappoint them. He tells the story of a student who wants to be an artist, and would be very good at it, but her father won’t let her because he doesn’t think an artist is a respectable job. She tries to make everyone happy by taking what her father suggests along with a few art classes. This story should evoke sympathy towards students from the readers. They feel

Readers will be more inclined to believe this article because Zinsser also uses ethos to convince readers that he knows what he is talking about. Ethos is represented by the credibility of the author. Zinsser explains that he is an English instructor at Yale University. He also states that he is the master of Branford College and lives in the Gothic quadrangle of Branford and knows the students there very well. The fact that Zinsser is so credible in this area will help the readers be able to trust his opinion because he knows the situation first hand. Another way Zinsser persuades the readers to believe his argument is with the use of logos. Logos are when an author uses logic and facts to defend their argument. Zinsser does this when he is describing the pressure of getting good grades and looking good on a transcript to get into a good school. He states, “Today, looking very good is no longer good enough, especially for students who hope to go on to law school or medical school. They know that entrance into the better schools will be an entrance into the better law firms or medical practices where they will make a lot of money. They also know that the odds are harsh. Yale Law School, for instance, matriculates 170 students from an applicant pool of 3,700; Harvard enrolls 550 from a pool of 7,000” (17). These facts face the reader right in the face and are hard