The other day I received this e-mail from Central College:

“Since I haven’t gotten your attention so far, I’m going to go out on a limb and provide you with some alternate lyrics to Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone,’ personalized just for you. Since you’re so smart,

We want to give you our cool guide.
Request it right now, yeah yeah!
If you do, you'll learn tips to set you apart
Since you're so smart.

“What do you think, Erika? Should I keep my day job? Help me prove everyone here in the office wrong (they think no one will respond to this e-mail) by clicking here. I’ll send you ‘Myths & Make-Believe: What the Guidebooks Won't Tell You’ and a Central College keychain lanyard.”

Of all the college e-mails I’ve received up to this point, this is my favorite one by far. I refused to respond to the colleges that have desperately tried to get my attention with tricks like putting my name in the subject header, providing useless quizzes, or saying that I’ve stood out.

Other colleges have just ended up sending the same e-mail two or three times hoping I'll eventually read it. I just wish that these schools would learn that by the time they have to send a third e-mail, the student probably is not interested.

The subject header for this aforementioned e-mail was, “We wrote a song for you.” This immediately caught my attention, and unlike the other e-mails from universities in which I have no interest, I opened it.

At first, however, I was very confused. I had to read it over a few times, since I didn't understand why Kelly Clarkson was being mentioned in a college e-mail. After I got the joke, I quickly went to listen to the song to see if Central’s lyrics matched. I even sang the different lyrics.

Still, this e-mail is a little depressing. Sophomores in high school are already receiving desperate e-mails from colleges who use lame methods to make themselves more attractive. We are not even halfway done with high school and we are being bombarded with these ridiculous letters. I still can't believe that Central College felt the need to come up with corny lyrics to a once popular song.

I know some would argue that the sooner we start our college search the better, but can’t we wait until junior year? Most of my class is still wondering when they are going to take drivers education. Plus, many members of my class aren’t what people would typically call mature. So how are we supposed to think as far ahead as college?

Maybe the years have been moving incredibly fast, but it just doesn’t seem like we’re given enough time to enjoy high school. We’re hampered with the idea of college and the fear that doing badly on just one test or major project will prevent us from getting into any good college.

People should not be stressing if they have a grade point average of 3.7, because it's OK to get a few B’s. Letter grades are not going to drastically change your life, no matter what your parents say.

We should be able to look back at our high school years with fond memories, not four years of college preparation and stress from trying to be the perfect student. There are bums who’ve graduated from the Ivy League and geniuses with great careers who came from colleges that aren’t considered that great.

But since, in reality, thousands of other sophomores are starting their college search, I should probably start reading more of these e-mails. I guess if more colleges start sending me song lyrics, this process could turn out to be fairly entertaining.