The World is Our Campus Volume 56, Issue 6
February 2008
Arcadia High School 180 Campus Drive, Arcadia, CA
College Admissions Anxiety
In this issue:
Photo by KATHLEEN KAO
ENTERTAINMENT pg.8 Coffee House: Advanced Drama Department’s new production showing this week Graphic by KYLE JACOBSEN & HANAN KAMAL
HONK HONK The mail truck is soon on its way to deliver the much anticipated college admission decisions. By TRACY LEE & ERICA WIN
Photo Courtesy of ANGELA HU
CENTER SPREAD pg. 12-13 Constitution Team at State: Congratulations, but who exactly are these talented thinkers and speakers?
Photo by GREGORY ZAJAC
SPORTS pg. 19 Girls Soccer: A summary of their successful season
T
Staff Writers
hink seniors have it easy? Senior year is actually the worst, a year when the formidable task of completing college applications, which has always loomed in the distance, becomes a reality. The burdens of researching, applying, and waiting to be accepted to colleges weigh down heavily upon your shoulders, bursting the happy, carefree mindset of “Senioritis here I come!” But alas, it’s time to get down to business. Before the paperwork starts, it’s incredibly important to find colleges that fit—and that takes research. When asked how she decided which colleges to apply to, senior Emily Lin said, “I visited colleges so I could have firsthand experience of a school’s vibe. It’s important to thoroughly research the schools you want to apply to, even if you can’t visit them.” When researching, it helps to keep in mind that there are different kinds of schools: the safety school, the match school, the dream school, and the fantasy school. The safety is your fall-back as there is virtually guaranteed acceptance; the match is something within your SAT and GPA range; the dream is the top goal; the fantasy is the school where even sell-
ing your soul can’t get you in. Concerning his acceptance to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, senior Sunil Pedapudi said, “Applying to safety schools is good not only because you’ll have somewhere to go if all goes awry, but it’s also really nice knowing someone somewhere wants you.” To determine which school is a good fit, you can look to college-released statistics (SAT and ACT scores) of their more “average” students, those who fall between 25th and 75th percentiles. After establishing which schools to apply to, it is time to plow through the paperwork. Senior Jessica Lee said, “Before junior year ends, it is best to start informing your teachers that you want recommendations.” She also points out the benefits of getting a head start by finishing the first draft of the essays before summer ends “because you need peers and adults to proofread them.” She warns going overboard with the proofreading because too many opinions will mess with your head rather than help. But once the applications are all mailed, the anxiety sets in. As a very wise man once said, the downtime between applying and hearing back is like “asking out the 10 best-looking people you know, and then having them say, ‘I’ll get back to you in 6 months.’” That’s when the secondthoughts sink in: “What if I had gotten an A in that one class?” or “If I had scored higher on the SAT…” For the early bird, there is that one month
until the early action or early decision finally comes back with word on that one school—the dream school. But for most, those long months until March and early April, when decisions come out, all you can do is sit and wait. Thin envelope or thick envelope, only trembling hands can grasp what waits in the mailbox. Then again, the waiting process is not necessarily all bad. Senior Jimmy Nguyen commented that on first sending out his applications, he was “relieved, but once people started getting responses back, [he] got nervous.” So it doesn’t have to be six months of terror. Even in the face of potential rejection, it’s still possible to remain zen. Acceptance or rejection? That is the question, but by March, regular decisions begin to arrive in the fourth and final step of the applyingto-colleges process. Already, the Cal States have released their letters and the UCs and USC have delivered their scholarship verdicts. Several Arcadians have received the prestigious merit-based Regents Scholarship to one or more UCs. From research to application to waiting to decision, these will be the longest days of our young lives. To the seniors still awaiting their letters, good luck. The juniors, sophomores, and freshmen are all supportive of you and want you to succeed. And remember, your adult life does not depend on these letters. You will be fine even if you do not get into your first choice.