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Every year, the sophomores meet their college guidance counselors and tell them about their extracurricular activities, academic interests, and personal interests. As juniors, they fill out the Common Application, write practice essays, and participate in practice interviews. They do this because Wyoming Seminary is a “college preparatory institution.” This means the whole reason their parents are forking out atrocious amounts of money now is so they can later blow the rest of it on a “good” college education.
What a “good” college education is differs from student to student, depending on ability and interests, but the average parent seems to believe that this must mean the Ivy League. This isn’t true. Very few of the students of any class are going to make it to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, etc. Because it’s impossible. Get over it right now.
My college search has been somewhat angst-raising. My entire life has been seemingly geared for a “good” college: I’ve taken an “advanced” track in math that resulted in BC Calculus as a junior; I went to CTY camp for six summers; I was forced to take three AP’s both my junior and senior years. And now I know that this isn’t going to get me in. (Resistance is futile.)
I’ve visited (in order) Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Boston University, New York University, Columbia, Barnard, and Brown. I’ve sat through some of the most boring infosessions possible (skip those at Columbia and Brown, for your own good). They tell you that there’s no “set formula” for getting in; they tell you that your SAT’s don’t count nearly so much as your transcript. If the SAT’s don’t count, then why exactly does the ETS/College Board have a golf course on its grounds?
I knew I was officially screwed when the annoying guy at Columbia, who had gone on about “the history of Columbia” for half an hour, was answering questions. “Is it better to get an A in a regular course or a B in an AP?” asked a concerned mother. He smiled and said, “It’s always best to get the A in the AP!” and laughed as though this were actually funny. Maybe this is some kind of an inside joke of college admissions people. He might as well have waved his hand at us and yelled, “None of you have a prayer! Leave now!” Needless to say, I am not applying to Columbia.
It seems as though they’re looking for some ultimate student who doesn’t exist. This student is a minority, has straight A’s in all of his/her AP’s, plays three sports and two instruments, sings in the choir, participates in drama, founds three clubs, and does 100 community service hours a year. I’ve realized that I’m a middle-class white American, just like everybody else. I’ve realized that I lack that special something that’s going to make me stand out in the applicant pool. I don’t even have a personal tragedy about which I can write in my personal essay. I’m not sure whether or not I’ve grown as a person recently.
This is all very distressing.
If it’s any comfort, my grandmother thinks I can get in anywhere. “You’ve always been so smart, Leah,” she tells me. “Any college you want to go to, you can.” I snort and reply, “Sure.”
My dad tells me that “art can be your edge.” He thinks that if I include slides from my portfolio, I will magically get in as a Journalism/Fine Arts major, because certainly no one else would have thought of that idea before. (Sarcasm.)
And so it goes until everybody basically hates themselves and wishes they had studied harder. “I used to be so smart,” they whimper. “In the Lower School, I saw an A+ once in a while.”
It’s okay, though. When it comes down to it, whether you go to one school or another, it’s all the same experience: take classes, binge drink, date losers, make friends with the people on your hall, eat at cafés, etc. No matter where you go, you’ll wind up with some sort of a degree, then a job that, chances are, has nothing to do with the degree. You’ll grow up, get married, have some pets or children, and anxiously await weekends.
In the long run, this probably isn’t the catastrophe we all think it is. At least, I hope it isn’t.