The College Decision

April 1 is just around the corner, and life-changing decisions will finally be revealed to hundreds of thousands of high school seniors. Applying to college was one of most stressful times of my life. Ironically, for having been a crazy mess during senior year, I put myself through the application process a second time by transferring my sophomore year of college.

The college admission process is a random, sometimes seemingly unfair way of judging a student, as it is based on GPA, SAT, ACT, grades, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and background information. These are only snapshots of all that a person has to offer. Some of the most overqualified, hardworking, and smartest people I know were rejected from schools that were a perfect fit, while others who didn’t work hard in high school and didn’t participate in extracurricular activities were welcomed with open arms to top universities. The process is a scary and unpredictable obstacle that we must overcome in order to continue on to higher education, but no matter where you end up, it’s really what you make of your college experience.

Having been through the process twice, taken standardized tests multiple times, asked teachers for letters of recommendations, and stressed over grades, in hindsight it almost seems a bit silly. Was it worth all that stress? As my roommate my first semester of sophomore year wisely told me, “there’s no need to stress, your work is going to get done regardless.” It was true. Despite what was being stressed over, there was no need to worry, since it was all going to be over with eventually. I am not the type of person to avoid doing what needs to get done. When it is all said and done, my work was going to be completed. Applications and the college process are going to be over with soon enough. Stress isn't going to help in any way, shape, or form – it could only do more bad than good.

At the time, the college application was the most stressful thing to me, but once that passes, stress takes on another life of its own through different things, such as college projects, midterms, internships, jobs, even socially. It is all relative. To a senior in high school, college is the biggest worry; for a senior in college, it’s finding a job after graduation.

Family and friends can tell you “everything will be okay,” and maybe it will, but it takes time to come to that conclusion on your own. And even when you think you realize it, sometime else will appear out of nowhere and take you back to square one. It’s difficult, to say the least, to be critiqued and rejected based on numbers and the opinions of others. In the end, though, the decision of one school isn’t going to make or break the rest of your life.

At least that’s one less thing to worry about.