Rejected. After four long years of nothing but hard work and determination, your fate, decided in a letter containing an AI generated paragraph about how you weren’t good enough. Without a perfect SAT score, a college planner or support from a non-profit organization, getting into a top 20 school is nearly impossible.
Almost everyone at South is driven to get good grades for the sole purpose of getting into a good college. Not only does the increased competition cause stress, but it also causes a strain in relationships because of jealousy. Instead of enjoying being a teenager, it has become common for kids to stay in to study instead of having fun. Little to their knowledge, the college they worked so hard for does not even want them most of the time, and reading rejected or waitlisted makes them feel like their years of hard work were all for nothing.
College admissions have become the luck of the draw. Many students meet the same requirements but only certain ones are accepted. Now, so much is dependent on how the college admissions officers feel the day they read your application. Not only that, but if you are overqualified, many colleges will actually reject your application because they expect you to attend an Ivy.
What comes with the stress of college applications is the damage to your mental health. Pressing the gas pedal in academics for over four years causes burn out. A rejection from the college of your dreams causes depression.
Is this what life has become? Happiness determined by acceptance. Future determined by acceptance. Mental health destroyed by rejection. We only live once. Why devalue your happiness by making it depend on academic validation when there is no guarantee that any specific school will accept you.
Unfortunately, no matter how perfect your SAT score or how high your GPA is, you need more than just study hard. You need to make a difference. For high school students, starting something like a non-profit organization is daunting. There are always going to be people overachieving to get to the next level and if you want to try to compete, you are actively throwing your childhood away. College admissions are never fair and out of your control, so why worry?
As kids, every adult has told us at least one time, “Enjoy your childhood. Being an adult is not enjoyable.” No one believes it. All that is on our minds is being able to drive or have a job. The wish of growing up fast is granted when you reach high school. Some will stay the same people they have always been. Others mature and hyper-focus on education rather than enjoying the last few years of childhood. When you are so focused on a school it is hard to think outside the box and picture yourself in a different place . Dream schools destroy dreams with a click of a mouse and a word.
Without taking a step back and looking at the full picture, a rejection may seem like the end of the world. Fortunately, what college you go to does not sum up your intelligence or your character. So much of your life is stressed on getting good grades to get into a good college, but that is only four years of your life.
Worth is not determined by a grade point or a score. A good college might earn you bragging rights, but in less than two years after graduation no one will care. The most important thing to remember is happiness. Rejection will soon not feel like a wrecking ball slamming into your heart, but rather a redirection toward the right path. On the day of your birthday, blowing out your candles will be a celebration rather than the four -year anniversary of the death of your childhood.
