Today marks the national college decision day– the deadline for students to formally declare their intent to attend a specific university. Many students have ridden time right down to the wire, analyzing and comparing all of their educational options for next year with aspects such as finances, opportunity for growth and school location in mind.
For me personally, the college process has not been as overwhelming as it seems to have been for many of my acquaintances. While it mattered deeply to me that I set myself up to do what I love and have a secure life after high school, I kept myself calm and assured amidst the pressure by assuring myself that I would be able to achieve my highest goals with enough diligence and patience even if I didn’t get accepted anywhere. I think this mentality and self-understanding is important for every student to have as they begin to think about their future.
Every student will talk about how hard they worked to make their grade point averages and test scores as lofty as possible but I don’t want to perpetuate that broken record. What mattered the most to me during high school was pursuing my passions as extensively as I could while maintaining the diligence to, every once in a while, do some of the studying and schoolwork I didn’t always want do. I personally wanted to be as involved with as many musical activities as I could in high school because that’s what I will study in college. Making music is what I love to do, after all! I think that many students will find that if they get heavily involved in activities that interest them, the added pressure of a time crunch in a hectic schedule will force them to maintain discipline in completing school work as efficiently as possible. And, in doing so, they will create a high school resume that boasts involvement in impressive activities and academic prowess that will reap them wonderful benefits from colleges. There’s no need to calculate a specific number of activities one needs to join in order to get into a certain college– that’s robotic and un-enjoyable!
It saddens me to think that some students participate in certain clubs or activities strictly to polish their high school resume. The dreadful feeling of having to go to recurring club meetings and events for such activities that are nothing more than college “eye-candy”, I can imagine, only causes more stress. Similarly, I also find it closed-minded for students to discount colleges because their names lack the reputations of more selective schools. I know many people who went to small “no-name” colleges and are much happier and, quite frankly, more financially secure than others that went to some of the nation’s most elite universities confident that the world would be handed to them. Ultimately, each student owes it to themselves to give many schools a fair analysis to determine how they cater to their goals and interests moving forward– a package that can undoubtedly come in both a prestigious university and a lesser known school.
I do think it is possible to have a blast in high school while still making yourself an attractive candidate for colleges. I like to think I did just that. I’m not calling myself a model student by any means, but I do feel that I joined the activities I wanted because I love partaking in them– not because they enhanced my college applications– and I still ended up where I wanted to in the end.
