College Talk is Canceled
The Class of 2022 has finally entered the dreaded college prep phase of the high school experience. All of a sudden, classrooms that were once comfy spaces are now combative war zones as chatter and anxiety flutter about the air. As students fight their hardest year of schooling yet, the question of where your education will continue in a year and a half looms heavily. However, this stress isn’t even the most of it. The real stress is the chatter. The questions “What’s your top school?” and “Where are you looking?” are constant and with each inquiry comes stress and pressure from peers. It’s got to stop.
College is deeply personal. Where someone is interested in applying to school represents their educational philosophy, future interests, preferred region of the country, outlook on elitism, and financial status of their family. To some people, especially those at Galloway, college is just a topic of conversation and only considers where you’d like to spend the next four years of your life. But for some, it couldn’t be more sensitive. While some may be able to look at every college on Earth and pick what’s right for them, others are limited to in-state schools that are covered by the Georgia HOPE Scholarship. Some students thrive academically and determine success by the level of the selectiveness of a college while others don’t care about this at all. These are all incredibly sensitive, sacred subjects and to bring college in conversation the same way you’d ask what class your friend has next period is just naive and uncomfortable. Even if you think you know someone’s personal situation and think you’re on the same playing field, odds are you’re wrong.
The college chatter becomes judgemental and offensive almost immediately. It feels as though you can’t have a conversation with someone about a college you like without it becoming a subconscious battle of what your “safeties” and “reaches” are. We are all drastically different students, learners, and people, so obviously our college choices are going to be wildly different. One person who may have spent their high school experience solely preparing for college may have safety schools with 40% acceptance rates, while someone else is reaching for the same school. This doesn’t mean one candidate is smarter or better than the other. It just means they are different. Even if you personally don’t love a college or wouldn’t attend a kind of school yourself, the entire world doesn’t need to know. How you talk about colleges for yourself is often indicative of how you’ll see another person’s college choices. Denouncing a school in the middle of the West Wing is bound to hurt someone’s feelings and cause a stir.
We’re curious beings. With this new challenging, perhaps exciting chapter in our lives, it’s natural to reach out to our peers to make sure we’re really all in the same boat. The thing is, though, we are all in the same boat. Asking your friend their top five doesn’t make your college process go any smoother and just creates an unnecessary amount of anxiety. Obviously, we’ve spent the last four (or for some, about 14) years together, and it’s only intuitive to relate to each other and wonder where everyone will end up. But it just does more harm than good. We’re all going to end up going to college or following the path that fits us best. Do yourself and everyone else you know a favor and agree to let this personal process be personal.
By Annie Levy