Iz Gius Say you’re a senior who’s just decided on your college. Congratulations! You order a shirt and all kinds of gear, maybe put it in your Instagram bio. And then you receive an email telling you to send a picture for your ID, or to begin choosing your classes for next year, or in my case, to begin an application for a Tier 4 Student Visa. You receive notices that if your grades slip second semester, your acceptance could be rescinded. You might visit your chosen school, and tour guides and professors will begin to talk to you about career prospects and contact hours and workload. It doesn’t seem to add up—finally deciding on a university opens up a whole new set of responsibilities and stress, not vice versa (and not the way it tends to be perceived). I think there’s a real problem—and it’s not unique to Latin or to our college counseling office, by any means—about how we conceptualize the college application and decision process. There’s this fantasy among the upperclassmen that once your college applications are submitted, school becomes a breeze; or as soon as you make a decision and put down a deposit, the rest of your senior year is stress-free. I certainly bought into it. I couldn’t wait to roll up to school second semester, forty minutes late to long block, sweats head-to-toe. And that’s not entirely untrue, but it’s a vast oversimplification. And ultimately, an unhealthy one. Here’s an unfortunate truth, one that was certainly a surprise to me: getting into college isn’t the hard part. The hard part is what comes after—adjusting to life in a new environment and with new people, or trying to keep up your GPA, or deciding on a major, or even grad school applications and interviews and internships. And by placing college decisions at the very end of some kind of success tunnel, we’re making a serious mistake. The very idea of “senioritis” ignores the fact that college is just four years of more (and most likely, more challenging) academics. The pressure we place on college admissions allows us to be completely blindsided by the reality of higher education, and the possibilities beyond it. I’m not trying to say that our futures are full of nothing but work. College is an amazing experience, and will allow us to learn and grow in countless ways beyond academics. We’ll likely have less hours of school, less busy work and less required classes, while granted more independence. And there’s nothing wrong with giving yourself a break after a difficult semester of work, or taking advantage of the opportunity to learn, without real concern for final grades—in fact, it’s probably a great way to avoid burn out, and to enjoy your last months here. But I think the “giving up” mentality that the culture around Latin encourages for your second semester senior year is really dangerous. If we continue to think of life as cycles of hard work followed by cycles lacking motivation and enthusiasm, then we’re not prepared at all for the world ahead.]]>
jgross • Apr 16, 2017 at 3:03 pm
Great article. I feel sort of differently, though. I think the college application process makes college seem much more frightening and cutthroat than it actually is. Certainly, I can’t know for sure, but I have two older siblings who went through stressful college application processes and seem to have found their groove in college. It definitely hasn’t been easy; college is so difficult. But the impression that I’ve gotten from my siblings is that, in college, there’s less of an emphasis on deadlines and grades, and after school (or class) every day, you don’t necessarily go home and study for an assignment due the next day. You can hang out with friends, or go to one of your club meetings, or write an article for the school paper.
In college, it seems, you get to decide a lot for yourself when it comes to balancing your academics with the rest of your life, which requires responsibility, of course, but is also tremendously freeing. What you do on a daily basis is less-and-less geared towards meeting requirements or satisfying your teachers, and more inspired by what you are interested in doing, which in and of itself makes it feel less stressful than the structured college application process (and high school in general at times).
Also, from my experience, I’m not sure Latin encourages a “giving up” mentality. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. Most days I get home from school overloaded with work and just completing it, let alone completing it well, takes a tremendous amount of energy. I haven’t had the opportunity to begin giving up, really.
But I know everyone’s experience is different. I just find myself thinking towards college a lot as my high school career comes to a close and looking forward to the freedom and lack-of-structure that it provides.
Sometimes I feel the rigid structure at Latin—and in high school in general—is the source of most of the stress. I certainly hope that (for the most part) college isn’t as stressful as the application process, anyway.
igius • Apr 18, 2017 at 10:16 pm
Sorry for the late reply, Johnny! Thanks for your response. I agree with what you’re saying in a lot of ways. College is certainly a difficult experience, but I’m also really looking forward to the freedom and flexibility that it provides. In that way, college can be easier, more individualized, and more rewarding. For sure. That comes with a whole new set of challenges, though, especially for one coming from a school like Latin (where we might not know how to work effectively when we’re not on such a strict schedule; or where we might flounder when assigned to choose whole course loads, instead of an elective or two). But a lot of the competitiveness and judgment of the application process seems to fade once you’ve gotten in, although certainly not at all institutions.
The biggest problem with the “giving up” mentality, I think, is exactly what you mentioned. The mindset doesn’t seem to match up with reality— my senior year, even second semester, has been completely filled with work and extracurriculars and overall busy-ness. I think, for a lot of students, they are forced to work hard right up until graduation. But there’s a physic disconnect. A lot of the culture around Latin, or at least what I’ve absorbed from friends and past upperclassmen, has led me to think that the end of my time here will be easy and stress-free. And when the RomanNet assignments list doesn’t match that perception, there’s something wrong.
I’ve been thinking about college a lot lately, too (and reflecting on my time at Latin). There’s a lot of amazing stuff to look forward to.