The Waiting Game

The waiting game: the tedious length of time between submitting your application to a college of your choice and hearing back. The anticipation to hear a response can only be defined as stressful. Hills West Seniors have been anxiously awaiting their college responses for months.

With some students hearing back from colleges in which they applied early decisions to, the wait for others has become increasingly nerve-wracking. Several colleges have begun to delay the date in which they will send out their acceptances – or rejections. It will only become more difficult for students who are seemingly waiting in a stage of limbo.

There are four different types of admission: rolling, early action, early decision, and regular. Rolling admissions are often available at larger universities – and the best part is students will likely hear back from the school in two to three weeks. Unlike rolling admissions, early action applicants will be subjected to months of waiting to hear back. Early action is a non-binding response from a school in which a prospective student will receive a response back at at an earlier date than regular decision applicants. Early decision, in contrast to early action, is a binding agreement. Most common however, is the regular decision application since all schools offer this type of admission. Most regular decision application due dates were in early January, and will take into the early Spring for seniors to receive replies.

Several Hills West students have been accepted into top tier schools. Andrew Faber and Victoria Sacchetti have been accepted to ivy league schools after sending in their early decision applications. Faber will be attending Cornell University and Sacchetti will take her place at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Another exciting acceptance was granted to Drew Tucker. After applying early action, Tucker was accepted into Harvard University. When asked about how it felt to wait for a response, Tucker admitted, “It was one of the most torturing experiences of my life.” He continued by stating that he spent most days thinking about every possible scenario – an acceptance, deferral, or rejection.

These are just a few of the Hills West seniors who have been accepted into competitive collegiate institutions. Drew also commented by saying, “I have been striving to achieve this goal for my entire life.” This “moment of enlightenment” awaits many Hills West students in the upcoming months.

However, positive news does not await all seniors. Ms. Darge, Hills West’s own college advisor, advises all seniors to remain positive considering rejection “is not the end of the world”. Even though rejection may seem tough at first, Ms. Darge wants all seniors to know that everything will work out in the end.

While talking about the current seniors, Mrs. Darge exclaimed the necessity for all juniors to begin exploring what colleges they may want to attend. “It’s never too early to begin thinking about where you may want to attend; senior year is only one short year away,” she said. Ms. Darge also advised juniors to look into whether the schools they plan to apply to will accept their standardized test choice (new SAT or old SAT). Certain schools will only accept specific standardized tests as a result of the new version of the SAT. Hills West’s current seniors definitely do not miss those days.

Although the “waiting game” seems to be never ending for this years seniors, May 1st (the date in which all seniors have to declare where they will be attending school in the fall) is just a few months away. Whether it’s rejection, the wait list, or acceptation, the future for Hills West seniors has never been brighter.