The beginning of senior year brings new stresses for every student.
Not only do we have to worry about math homework and make sure our social studies papers are turned in on time, but we also have to face the added pressure of college applications and their tedious essays, forms, and supplements. Not to mention, the fast approaching deadline for every college applied to. We complain, as high school students do, to our friends because we know they can relate. Then comes the inevitable: “Well which school is that essay for?” usually followed by “If you’re telling people.”
Some students will readily count off the ten, fifteen or even twenty schools to which they are applying, while others hide the information.
Keeping these secrets is simply not worth it. Every student should be able to express their college choices.
“I think it’s really important to be proud of where you’re applying,” said senior Tori Lehrer. “Still other students will launch into lengthy explanations of which schools are their ‘safeties,’ their ‘targets’ and their ‘reaches.’”
They will talk about early applications, including where they may be applying early decision.
However, even within the same friend groups, there are others who are reluctant to discuss their college choices. When asked, they brush off the question, telling others that they are not telling anyone.
We are sure there are schools to which we have applied that will not accept us, but we have accepted that.
Rejection happens to everybody, so why not be able to talk about it and take comfort in the fact that it is a universal experience?
“What will a person knowing where you’re applying really do?” said senior Evan Kerr.
Furthermore, there are very few people who are so concerned with the lives of others that they will truly remember that someone applied to Tufts, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Wesleyan, Boston College and Brown, in that exact order of preference.
Quite frankly, we doubt most people could name more than one or two schools to which each of their friends are applying.
The fact of the matter is this that discussing one’s college choices is just a timely subject of conversation.
It is something to talk about, complain about, and look forward to.
It is unlikely that any remotely kind person would judge someone for being rejected from a school, especially since he or she has probably felt that same sting of rejection.
Rejection is a universal experience, and everyone will face it at one time or another. If we reveal our college choices to friends, the reality of being rejected will actually be less painful.
It is actually a relief for us to talk about where we are each applying.
Hearing others talk about how difficult the essay was for College X, or how they know they do not have a chance of getting into College Y reassures us that everyone else is going through the same things we all are, and reminds us that we are not in this alone.
And in a process as stressful as college applications can be, we would much rather bond over and joke about rejection with trustworthy friends than wallow in it alone.
Ultimately, we need the support of family and friends to survive the brutal process of college applications, and there is essentially no use in keeping college choices a secret from those we trust.