If you are familiar with the college application cycle, you know that December of senior year, students enter one of the most intense phases of the college admissions process, when schools start releasing decisions from the binding Early Decision and the Early Action application pools. All of the work from the last four years comes into high definition as students await some of the first answers that their class will receive. To add to the pressure, some of the most selective schools in the country are rendering decisions. Even when a senior has not applied under one of these plans, stress levels elevate as they watch their classmates receive this news. When a student or a peer of theirs is admitted or denied (and language matters-colleges do not accept or reject…they admit and deny) the temperature can increase throughout a school building. Students that received positive news are ecstatic while disappointing news can feel like the end of the world.
In my first year counseling students, I wanted to find something to help balance this experience. I could not find anything so I wrote my own piece. If you know a family with a senior, feel free to share it with them:
“As early application results come in, I have noticed a heightened state among college-bound seniors as they wait for results from the schools where they applied. I searched my archives of articles to find something that might help students take stock and maintain perspective, but none of the articles said what I wanted to say, so here are my two cents. Keep your eye on your own ball. Do not pay attention to the admissions chatter. Think about what you are looking for in a college and what you want your life to look like after the 45 months that you will spend at college. Consider your strengths and weaknesses as a student as well as how you learn best. Continue to explore areas of study and career paths that interest you. Make a list of things you would like to accomplish in college like studying abroad or completing an internship. Explore the websites of ALL the colleges where you are applying and see if anything jumps out at you. College admission is just the beginning. The kids that “win” at the college game (if there even is such a thing) are the students that arrive on campus with a sense of purpose, use their four years well and graduate on time. In precisely five months you will be submitting a deposit to the lucky school that gets to have you for the next four years. Use this time to ponder what you want in a college so that when your choices are on the table, you have a deeper sense of what you want in a school.”