PHS PERSPECTIVE: Getting past the college application process

By Byrne Fahey
   Acceptance. Rejection. Deferral.
   You’d think they would at least make the terms consistent, right? Acceptance, rejectance, deferrance. Or perhaps acception, rejection, defertion. But then again, consistency in the words would not make it any easier to interpret them.
   It seems simple. An acceptance is a “yes,” a rejection is a “no,” a deferral is a “we’ll get back to you.” But for dozens of Princeton High School seniors hearing back from colleges in December, just one word, entwined with strands of pure verbal fluff, whether sympathy or praise, is not nearly a satisfying level of feedback to warrant the effort we poured into our applications.
   It’s just a few essays, sure, but the work behind our college applications consists of more than the hours we spend filling out forms and free response questions.
   Behind our list of Common App extracurriculars, our 500 word essays, and our “Why [This College]?” responses are four years of high school and more: late nights and early mornings, travel coffee mugs and rushed breakfasts, tests and quizzes and projects, and the frustration of having them all on the same day.
   We’ve balanced school with sports, community service, clubs, sleep, and — if we were organized — a social life. It’s been four years of growth, four years of facing the reality that we have to work for what we want, four years marking the end of the glory days of childhood. It’s been four years predominantly motivated by the prospect of heading off to college soon enough.
   And then the early application letters came, and for many of us, myself included, it felt like four years wasted.
   The outrageous competitiveness of the college process undermines the success and self-worth of both those students who do get into their top choice schools, and those who do not. With confidence that I’m not alone, I’ll admit it. When other students get in, I’m silently bitter. Of course they deserve it. But the rest of us, having been less successful, can’t help but whisper. Are they a legacy? Do they have connections? A surprising ethnicity?
   Facing our own rejections and deferrals, we’re silently crushed. I can’t help but wonder. Did we deserve it and just not get it, or did we not deserve it? It’s the remaining uncertainty that gnaws at us. Accepted why? Rejected why? Deferred why? We can speculate, but we’ll never quite know.
   The act of comparing candidates for admission is so easily arbitrary. How can an admissions committee decide that one student is “better” than the rest? When everyone is so different, so amazing in their own way, how can it be fair to compare us at all? We’re not simply apples and oranges, we’re an entire fruit basket!
   The bottom line is that many students deserve it, many students would do well at their top choice institutions, and, heartbreaking as it is, many students will not get in. Colleges don’t necessarily want well-rounded students; they want well-rounded classes. They want people who know what their passions are, have made impressive progress in a specific field, and have pushed the boundary of what is to be expected of a 17-year-old.
   Not everyone is a budding genius engineer, music prodigy or published author. A refreshing aspect of Princeton High School is that, while many people “do everything,” those people seem to love doing everything. We can be our amazing, dynamic, achieving selves without sacrificing other interests simply to be outstanding in one area. We just might not all get into our first choice schools.
   And that’s okay.
   I take solace in my confidence that it will end up all right, that in August we will all have forgotten about essays, SAT scores and APs. Our minds, previously clouded with the stress of the college process, will be focused on what is to come next.
   We’ll proudly wear our college sweatshirts, despite the steamy heat of the summer. We will be thrilled to be headed wherever we’re headed, whether it be our first choice school or our safety. We’ll have reached a state of grace, the ups and downs of the college admissions process far behind us.
   Until then, we plow on. We’ll work to move past our jealousy and feel only happiness for those who were accepted to college early in the game. We’ll submit the remainder of the tedious applications, make it through midterms, and then, hey, maybe even try to enjoy our senior year.
   Because even if we were deferred, wait-listed, or flat out rejected from colleges, these past four years were not for naught. They counted. No matter what that first college admissions letter held, the next four years are on the horizon, and I, for one, can’t wait.
   Byrne Fahey is a senior at Princeton High School.