I mailed my check to Dickinson today and I filled out the forms that said no to the University of Washington. One of my friends went to visit University of New Mexico last week and came back firmly deciding on Western Washington University. My other friend last night decided on University of Washington over University of Massachusetts.
People are narrowing down their decisions. It is almost May 1, after all. It has been a strange year. The application process seems so far behind me now, so inconsequential. Just last year I was fretting over which colleges I would even apply to, just this fall I was worry and nit-picking over my applications, just a month ago I was itching (literally) in anticipation over college notifications and just a few weeks ago I was wondering how intelligent or lackluster I must truly be to only get into two institutions.
And now I am beginning to wonder if any of it really mattered. Sure it did—the path was important, the path led me to where I am now. But it does not shake the feeling that all of what has transpired over the past 12 months, arguably the past four years, is far in the past and out of mind.
I’m officially a Dickinsonian now. I am shedding the coat I have been wearing for four years as a Cedarcrest red wolf to transition into the guise of a red devil. And I feel comfortable about this decision. Who cares if Hamilton wait-listed me and three schools rejected me? Dickinson wanted me. I wanted Dickinson, what else truly matters in the end? Dickinson recognized and appreciated what I have accomplished, what I have grown into over the past four years enough to offer me a spot in their class. And I am glad to accept.
I look around my classes now and I notice something I had not noticed all year: We’re grown up. No longer are we the tiny, naïve freshmen we once were, the immature sophomores or the over-anxious juniors, or even the nervous seniors…we’re adults. It’s a weird concept that I don’t entirely have a hold on. But it’s true. I look around at all of our faces and I see a sudden maturation. I finally see that we have all grown, we have all learned, we have all changed and we are all, for the most part, better for it.
High school has been important. We have matured from barely pubescent childishness into adult responsibility and the beginnings of a true understanding of the world we live in and the world we will face.
So where will college lead?
The anxiety is over and I can now say with utter and complete certainty—I will find out.