PHS PERSPECTIVE: That question high school seniors always get

By Byrne Fahey
   ”So, where are you applying to college?” Princeton High School seniors are asked by, well, everyone. Students want to know. Parents want to know. Soccer coaches, dance teachers, great aunts, doctors, dentists and friends of friends of friends want to know.
   For some students, it’s not an issue.
   ”It’s normal,” said Josh Pughe-Sanford. “That’s the next question that comes into their mind when they hear that I’m a senior. Yeah, I want to go to Stanford. I don’t really have a problem with saying that.”
   ”They don’t know that I’ve been asked so many times,” said Amilin McClure. “It’s not a big deal.”
   But for many students, the question is almost taboo.
   ”It’s what I get every time I talk to an adult,” said Ciara Celestin. “Adults are crazy! I usually just like mumble and I’m like “Yeah … I don’t really know.”
   ”When I say that I don’t know, even though I do, they don’t accept it,” said Margo Budline. “They try to get it out of me. It’s not their business!”
   Whether because they simply don’t know, or because they don’t want to tell, seniors cunningly avoid the question left and right. In a poll of 50 PHS seniors, 22 admitted they are reluctant to tell people where they are applying to college.
   A major reason students hesitate to divulge their college list is simply fear of others’ opinions.
   ”I don’t want people to judge me,” said Celestin, “like ‘Oh, you’re applying to that college?’”
   ”I get so nervous that people are going to think ‘Oh, she’s not going to get in there!,”, said Taylor Panconi. “Whenever someone asks me [what colleges I’m applying to], I’ll say my safety school because it’s like, oh I am gonna get in there, you just wait and see!”
   Students are also simply exhausted and stressed out by college talk, especially with plans still uncertain.
   ”It personally makes me uncomfortable, not because I’m afraid of telling them that I’m going to get rejected, but because it puts the pressure on me and I just don’t know what I’m doing yet entirely.” said KC Read-Fisher. “I feel like the spotlight is on me.”
   ”It’s a stressful thing to talk about,” agreed Celestin.
   Though Pughe-Sanford has no problem responding to the question, he acknowledges that uncertainty can make answering the “Where are you applying?” question difficult. “I think they’re just nervous to put a finger on it, because it’s a big step in their life.”
   There’s also an aspect of competition to consider when telling other students about one’s college prospects. Some believe that even if there are many PHS seniors worthy of getting into a school, only one or two will snag the PHS “spots.” Luckily, most students don’t identify this as a primary reason for staying silent about their college picks.
   ”I keep forgetting that people are going to be applying to the same schools and competing for the same spots as me,” said Read-Fisher. “But I figure, we’re all so different, in the end, I’m going to end up wherever I end up for a reason.”
   Not all seniors, however, feel uncomfortable when people ask about college plans.
   ”I always tell them my list!” said Erika Flory. “It doesn’t bother me. I’m going to end up at one of those places anyway, so eventually they’re going to know I applied there.”
   John Robles thought similarly.
   ”It’s really stupid to lie about it. In the end, everyone’s going to see where you’re going to college, so it doesn’t matter,” he said.
   So, when will these mum seniors finally speak up?
   When applications are finished, most agreed.
   ”I don’t really want to talk about it when it’s in the process,” said Helen Eisenach. “[I’ll tell] when what’s done is done, but I don’t want to talk about it until it’s done.”
   Byrne Fahey is a senior at Princeton High School.