Off the Track

The time has come when most of the senior class has stopped focusing on how their résumé should look and started focusing on how their dorm room should look. We are in the final stretch…the last inning…and we can almost count the number of days we have left on our fingers. However, many seniors have still not figured out exactly where they are going to go to college yet, and after applying to as many as 17 different schools, some seniors are still having a very tough time.

I, personally, do not like to make decisions, so when I found a college I liked, I dove right in, applying Early Decision. That way I would [hopefully] know where I was going by Christmas, and would not have to spend my final semester in high school listing out the pros and cons of numerous universities. Am I still nervous though? You bet…and there’s still a little part of me who wishes I had gone Regular and seen where I could get in. What if W&M is not right for me…and I’d be much better off at Tulane or UCLA? Luckily, though, these fears are not insurmountable, and if I hate it, which I really don’t think I will, I can always transfer.

(However, I was not the only senior who went ED. I am in the company of three other successfully-admitted ED seniors (Victoria M., Catye C. and Kathryn S.), who have known where they’re going for a long time, and can only change their mind under penalty of a very strenuous court battle.)

The thirty-nine members of the senior class applied to a wide range of colleges (from one to seventeen) in all the possible ways (ED, Early Action and Regular). A number of seniors applied to only a few colleges. Emma B., Emily S. and Laura G. thought they should have applied to more colleges, but Caroline D. thought she should have applied to fewer, and only had one application go all the way through, withdrawing the other two after her first acceptance. As Caroline put it, it was “the easiest decision I ever made. I loved the program and I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I got in, I said yes.” While the most stressful part for Caroline was waiting for an acceptance letter, Emma B. has been stressed out by trying to choose which college she will be attending come August. She said, “someone will ask me where I’m going and I’ll freak out, because I have to choose in less than a month.” As Emma B., who applied to three colleges, warns, “listen to people who tell you to apply to more colleges.” However, Emma L., who applied to 17, contrasts this by saying, “don’t apply to too many colleges, it makes it a lot harder when the time to choose comes around.” While both Emmas still have not chosen their college, the other three have, and all of them agreed that choosing their college was not stressful. For Emily, she will be attending the same college her sister recently graduated from, and has visited enough in the past to know that it’s the college for her. “LSU is my life, pretty much,” explains Laura. Having a father who attended LSU, Laura has grown up knowing that that is where she would be going to college.

Both Ayanna H. and Alex G. applied to five colleges, but while Alex applied to all five Regular Decision, Ayanna applied to two of her colleges Early Action. Alex applied Regular “because I wasn’t positive about what schools I wanted to go to or apply to,” and applying Regular “gave me time to research the different colleges.” Ayanna, who, like Caroline, says the hardest part was waiting, applied EA because she “wanted to know sooner, but choosing was not difficult, because she “got into [her] first choice school.” Alex had trouble choosing where to apply due to location, whether to stay in Louisiana or go to New York, but is happy with the decision she made.

There were also many girls who applied to more than five colleges, such as Kathryn S., Betsy M., and Hilary S., who applied to 7, 8 and 10 respectively. Kathryn, who applied Early Decision and was accepted, said she was glad with the way she applied, because “it was perfect.” Betsy, who also said that waiting was the hardest part, applied with a mix of EA and Regular, said the only reason she applied Regular to some schools was because they did not offer the EA choice (which is non-binding). However, she still filled all the applications out to meet the EA deadline, because it made it “less stressful later in the semester.” Alex echoes this sentiment, saying she “wishes I would’ve started applying earlier.”

No matter how you decide to apply, rest assured that you will easily be able to find at least one college that you feel at home at, and then you can spend May and the rest of your summer deciding on your room décor. As for me, I still need to find a bedspread that doesn’t clash with my roommate’s.

Colleges the seniors are attending:

University of Mississippi, Columbia College of Chicago, Washington University, Louisiana State University, Hendrix College, University of the South (Sewanee), Tulane University, College of William and Mar, Claremont McKenna College, University of the Redlands-Johnston Center for Integrated Studies, Howard University, Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama, Lehigh University, Bryn Mawr College, Emory University, Colorado College, Trinity College, University of Southern Mississippi, University of San Francisco, University of Arizona, Goucher College