College Decisions: Playing the Waiting Game
At this time of year, all some seniors can do is wait.
March 4, 2010 • Alexa Dillenbeck, Staff Writer
Filed under Opinion
This past year has been filled with preparing for college; deciding, applying, waiting, and, finally, rejoicing or coping with whether or not the school you wanted so badly to get into will accept you.
I applied to five SUNY schools and two others: St. John’s University and the University of Vermont, which I only applied to because they sent me free applications. So far, I have heard from one school out of the seven. The two free application schools wanted more information and I, lacking the motivation, decided to pass on completing them. I was accepted at Buffalo State, my third choice school, and now I’m left waiting for Purchase and Stony Brook.
When I was first picking schools, I looked at the schools that offered the major I wanted, which is journalism, and then I looked at their locations and decided based on how far away they were, weather patterns, etc. The one thing I regret when I picked my first choice, which was Stony Brook, was that I didn’t look for student opinions from the school. Instead, I looked the day after I got my first acceptance letter. I looked on a few websites with forums and reviews and, to my surprise, my second choice, Purchase, was more well liked then Stony Brook. Not to put down the school, but most of the positive reviews that the school had were all from the math department.
After realizing that I was lucky enough to get my third choice, I looked online for things I like to do around the Buffalo area. Will I be able to watch roller derby? Yes. Will I be able to go to concerts? Yes. Then, I looked for dorm room supplies online to ensure I’d have the most comfortable room ever. But am I just a victim of the leaving home fever? All of this, the decision to look up reviews, the double and triple checking Common App to make sure I got everything in, thinking about the roller derby and furniture, is all because I’ve been so paranoid because I’ve been waiting for what seems like ages to find out whether or not they want me.
Sometimes the college acceptance-or rejection-process is like being accepted into a group of friends and, unfortunately, they are the ones to pick you and it’s exclusive. I can’t really choose which one and just go there. I need to somehow convince them I’m worthy, which makes me feel kind of inadequate. Opening a letter saying I’m not good enough just sounds stressful and it is only made worse by the fact that it could happen.
Some of my friends have been rejected and all of them have reacted similarly. One cried and ripped the letter up. The other looked at other schools. And one completely changed her plans because maybe the major she wanted is the reason why she didn’t get into her schools. And now I’m the one waiting. I just want an answer. Not knowing is almost as bad as getting rejected. Now it’s one of the only things on my mind. I start biting my nails and my hands get sweaty when I just open the mailbox and the worst part is seeing that I don’t have any letters.
While I’m waiting I guess I can look on more reviews and think of buying some dorm room furniture, but I can only handle this waiting game for so long. Soon, I’m going to call the schools, infuriated, asking about the status of my application and if they don’t say it has been mailed, I guess I’ll continue waiting some more because I don’t want them to think I’m a nut or potential security risk.
Loading ...
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!