Seniors Receives College Decisions After Months of Waiting

Photo from Siddhi Yadav | The seniors are celebrating their college acceptances after years of hard work.

As the school year comes to an end, many seniors are finalizing their college decisions. Some are still figuring out where they would like to attend, while others have committed to their colleges. College applications are a long, emotional, and tedious process. “Honestly, the decision process was a rollercoaster for me. I got into schools I didn’t expect to get into, and got rejected from schools I didn’t expect,” said Sana Kamlesh (12). The college decision process is quite an experience. To gain a deeper understanding of what the college decision process looks like, here are three aspects of it.

1. The Dilemma

Many students face some sort of dilemma in the decision process, often trying to decide between colleges. Sometimes there are two or three really good options, and a student just can’t decide. Sometimes a student imagined themselves at one college, only to get into another they thought they would not get into, and then find themselves having to pick between what they imagined and the possibility of something different. “My heart was also set on attending Indiana University Bloomington. But now I realize that I always imagined myself going there because I didn’t think I’d get in anywhere better. But once I got into Carnegie Mellon University, I had a really tough decision on my hands,” said Siddhi Yadav, co-president of JFK Achieving College Education (ACE) club. Other times, a student has no predetermined plan of where they want to go and instead has to decide between two good decisions. When Rhea Singh (12) was deciding between the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego, she struggled to make a decision. Both were excellent schools. When asked why she picked UCLA, she said, “Deep down, I really felt like I would thrive more at UCLA. I think I would have more opportunities there for my medical journey.” The dilemma is also part of a good decision, and once it is solved, it makes the choice that much better.

2. The “Gut” Feeling

For some students, they just know. There’s a certain feeling that arises where everything clicks. Whether that be after reading the acceptance letter or visiting campus, many students describe one moment when they know that they will attend that college. Sometimes, it’s not what is expected. The decision can be scary and different than what the student’s family wants. But there is a certain gut feeling that lets the student know they made the right decision. Emma Forsyth (12) said, “My family and I had some disagreement over what school to attend, as they didn’t want me to be too far away from home. My parents especially wanted me to go to UC Davis because it’s close to home, and they attended it. After talking through this issue, my family and I came to the decision that UCLA is the best school for me, even if it wasn’t my parents’ top choice.” Emma also described how, after visiting the campus and attending Bruin Day, she just knew that UCLA was the place for her.

3. The Reputation

As social beings, students care what other people think of them. A major part of the college decision process is deciding whether a college’s reputation matters. For many students, it does. It could open doors of opportunity in the future, and it makes family members proud. By attending certain colleges, a social status is created. But it is important to look beyond a college’s reputation, as it could be misleading. JFK’s National Honor Society president, Sofia Valdivia (12), made her decision ignoring reputation. The reputation of California Polytechnic University is stellar, yet UC San Diego is well known to be a top college in the state of California. Yet, Sofia turned down her admission offer to UCSD and accepted her offer to Cal Poly. “The question was, did I want a better title or a better environment? I could have gone with UCSD or UC Davis, schools more pre-meds choose, or I could have gone to Cal Poly, where I liked the teaching style better.” Looking beyond the decisions other students made, Sofia decided which school was best for her. She has no regrets about her decisions and is so excited to start her college journey at Cal Poly in the fall.

Of all the seniors interviewed for this article, all of them had the same answer for what they would advise underclassmen: start the process early. Do not procrastinate on the application. Begin drafting essays, personal insight questions, and brag sheets the summer before senior year. Senior year can be challenging, but also very fun. Don’t let college applications become too overwhelming. Start planning early, listen to as many sources as possible, and make college applications part of your senior year experience.