Today, we come to you as two seniors who have freshly emerged from the college admissions process and all we can say is, what on earth was that?

The past two years of our lives have been dominated by college. Academic resume building, standardized tests, and as many extracurriculars as possible. We did all of these things because we had to. Because they were going to give us what we wanted. What we all need…right?

Though the emphasis on the college process really starts our junior year— the stress, anxiety, and competition have dominated our minds since before I can remember. 

So much of the college process, although subconscious, is about pleasing others. When thinking back to our initial college knowledge before knowing the truth, it was all about aesthetics and a name. Despite attempts to distinguish between our own internal and external influences while creating a list of schools, we ended up with a highly unoriginal selection of schools outside of the well-known top 40. 

The college process is, at this point, purely societal. It’s hard to admit, but a significant portion of our decision-making regarding what school to go relied on how our peers would perceive us. At the end of the day, everything worked out for the best but a different mindset could have saved us a lot of struggle and disappointment along the way. 

Next year, we are headed to schools that are going to offer us a multitude of opportunities and experiences,but neither of us will attend where we initially hoped. The thing about the college application process is that you have very little control, even less than you think you do. However, no matter the quality of your application, it won’t guarantee the exact result you wanted.  

At the end of the day, you have to sit down with yourself and think about what you really want to determine your next step. For some of us, it is all about the experience. For others, it’s about how the decision will affect your future. And for most of us, it is somewhere in between. 

As we reach the end of the process, we’re excited about where we are headed next and what the next chapter of our lives will look like. However, it won’t look anything like what we imagined, and that’s completely okay. We hope that those of you looking ahead to college keep this in mind and make sure the first step you take in shaping your future is guided by the right reasons.