College Chronicles Pt. 2: The Pre-Winter Break Check-in

December is well underway, which means highschool students that applied to colleges in the early round of submission are in the hot seat.

Last time students had either recently submitted after weeks of working on their early applications, or they were about to submit. November 1st, 2023 was the early submission deadline for many institutions, and November 15th, was the early submission deadline for many others.

Since the initial rush of adrenaline from clicking submit, these students have been awaiting their admissions decisions. Now, decision day is in sight. Many institutions will release their decisions on December 15th, while other institutions have a vague “mid-December” release date that has historically fallen between December 12th and December 15th. So what are the seniors who submitted early applications thinking?

“I don’t intend to apply to any other schools until I hear back from schools next week,” says Elwin Futrell, a senior. As of now he has applied to all of his early schools and a school in the regular decision round for a merit scholarship priority deadline.

“I’m done with my college applications. I don't really want to apply to any more schools,” says Daniel Brophy, another senior. He has applied to more than seven schools, mostly in California, and one in Hawaii. “If the universe decides for me to go to college it’ll allow me to get accepted to one of those places” says Brophy. 

Hearing back from colleges after weeks of waiting can be a tense and stressful experience for some students. “It’s definitely pretty nerve-wracking, I mean it’s a pretty big decision,” says Futrell. “Personally I’ve just been trying to not think about it and just see what happens, kind of accept the fact that whatever happens I’ll be ok.”

For others, college admissions decisions carry less weight. “I don’t really care what other people think or if they accept me or not,” says Brophy. “I accept myself for who I am as an individual.” 

Brophy views college as one of the many paths that can be taken in life. “If the college decides to accept me that’s fine, if not, that’s fine as well. No harsh feelings,” says Brophy. 

Procrastination is a prevalent issue in the realm of college applications. Seniors who have already submitted their applications have some takeaways to get applications done in a timely manner.

Futrell thinks the college nights are helpful, along with “creating a plan with Mr. Clarke for when you’re gonna do what and when you’re gonna apply when.” He also urges the importance of creating a deadline for yourself by committing to sending your essays to someone for review by a certain date. “I think the hardest thing for me is seeing the deadline of when the application is due and then thinking that’s when I need to have it done by but it really needs to be done quite a bit earlier,” says Futrell.

Brophy has a simpler philosophy. “When you’re feeling like not doing work, just go do it,” says Brophy. However, he also notes the importance of remembering that there is life beyond highschool, to perhaps relieve some pressure. “Once you’re done, you’re an adult and you can go off and do whatever you want in the world.”

Contrary to popular belief, evidently, sleep schedules do not need to suffer during peak college application season. Futrell and Brophy have both continued to get an average of 7 hours of sleep every night, so “pretty much the same,” says Futrell

As with each step of the college application process, every individual has certain preferences or lack thereof when it comes to their plan of attack on decision day. “I want to open it by myself or with one other person, maybe my mom,” says Futrell. “If it comes out on the 15th I told myself I would wait until after [the] talent show to open it. Realistically, I don’t know, but sometime that day.”

“If I get an admissions decision I will probably just open it whenever I get it,” says Brophy. However, Brophy also says that he would prefer to open his application portal alone so he can receive the decision first, opposed to other people having feelings about his admission decision. “I applied to the college, they’re making a decision for me. Right now that relationship is [between] the two of us. I rather not have that go to other people and just tell people good news if it comes up.”

Follow the newly created Parker senior destination instagram page to keep up to date on where Parker School’s class of 2024 ends up and stay tuned for part three of College Chronicles, coming soon after break!