“Got into Tulane!”, “Accepted by Oregon!”, “Guess who’s 5 for 5?!”
As Early Action acceptances have begun to trickle out, social media has begun to be filled with updates on who has been accepted by what college. I find this to be outright obnoxious and knowing it is only going to get worse come springtime. I urge seniors now to seriously consider whether informing all of your Facebook friends or Twitter followers what colleges “want you” is something hundreds of people care about, or something that makes them doubt their own pending college apps and jealously despise you and your acceptances.
Yes getting into college is exciting, very exciting. I get it. We all get it. The second you open that envelope in the mail that congratulates you and tells you that you are admitted to school X, Y, and Z come fall, you want to sing it from the highest mountain top. But pause for a second and reflect, who actually cares? Maybe a few of your closest friends, but not all 800. Your parents definitely care, your relatives do, your college counselor is being paid to care. But it is too much to ask of your fellow peers to have to feign excitement when they are told others are being accepted into schools by the handfuls.
It is understandable if you are going to be attending that college come fall. Then sure, that’s rightfully exciting and you have reason to share that. But I do not understand the senseless updates on how many schools you have been accepted by. Almost all of us seniors are going through the same processes and I get extremely aggravated logging on to Facebook to see so many people tooting their own horns.
To me, it seems like a shameless plug of how smart you are. It’s like deciding that everyone in the world cares that you got 100% on that test, or an A in that class. Congratulations, but keep it to your self. Again, tell your parents, they will be excited. They will jump with joy and take you out to celebratory ice cream, but your fellow seniors will likely roll their eyes and check their own mail nervously to see what their future holds.
To the rest of us who are still filling out our apps, slaving over our essays, or nervously biting out nails waiting for the verdict on an Early Decision dream school, hoping for our first acceptance, it is infuriating that anyone would think any one else would care what schools have merely accepted you. And think about it, your acceptance might mean somebody else’s denial, so I urge the senior class to have a little more grace when dealing with college acceptances.
In Piedmont, where we are continually compared with our peers on every single aspects of out lives—GPA, test scores, athletic ability, attractiveness, money, popularity—please let’s not add another measuring stick of how many colleges are tripping all over themselves to get you to come to their school. It just makes everyone else feel shamefully inadequate, and for no reason.
