Dear high school seniors applying to college,
You’ve heard it a thousand times, and you’re going to hear it a thousand more times, that your last year of high school will fly by. Be ready for the hands on the clock to move faster than you’ve ever seen them tick. Yet waiting for admissions decisions seems to take an eternity, and then making a choice seems to be impossible.
I can bet you right now that you’re reading this off a laptop with tabs to all the schools you applied to. The Common App bookmarked in your favorites, all staring at you with your fate in their databases. It’s okay to be afraid, it’s okay to feel like you don’t know what to do, or what’s going on, because you’re not supposed to! You’re exactly where you need to be.
All the college counselors say you’ll get a “feeling” when you’ve found the right school. What they don’t tell you is what to do when that school doesn’t accept you, or if you get that “feeling” at every school you applied to, or it seems like there is no “feeling” at all. Here’s the truth: there are hundreds of wonderful, qualified schools that you could thrive at, not just one. It’s what you make of it, not of what anyone else makes of your decision.
There’s this sense of prestige in getting into a big name, low acceptance rate school with a ridiculous price tag has swallowed our generation. Hate to break it to you, but none of that matters. Too often are students ashamed of not getting into what is considered a “top” school or what makes the most financial sense. Saving money is nothing to be ashamed about. Pursuing a college degree is nothing to make fun of. Community college is an amazing opportunity to give yourself more time to discover where your passions lie or work until attending an undergraduate college is a realistic option.
At the end of the day if your place of education, wherever it may be, gives you the tools to be successful in the future, then you made the best college decision possible. Trust your gut, it knows you better than anyone else’s opinion. Hang in there, and get excited because you’re about to find out where you’ll spend the best four years of your life!
Sincerely,
The high school senior from the other side