Upperclassmen Rivalry Over College Meetings

By Monica Chen

College application season has arrived for the seniors of High School West. As
many seniors begin to prepare for their college applications by attending college
meetings, many juniors have also began to take the opportunity of attending the meetings
in order to broaden their interest in different colleges. The intentions of college meetings
are to inform students who are looking into applying to certain colleges about their
academic departments, annual admissions, application processes, and campus life.

However, as spaces are becoming more limited in these meetings, seniors have
begun to feel upset about the number of juniors who attend these meetings, many of
whom use the meetings as an excuse to miss class. “It is understandable that the seniors
are frustrated. The more people in a meeting, the less time [the seniors] have to ask
whatever questions they might have…So many seniors are applying to these schools, but
may not have time to get what they need out of the meetings,” says Lauren Kiedaisch, a
senior at Hills West. Jennie Jung, a junior at High School West, has a similar viewpoint
for juniors who are simply using college meetings to cut class; she states, “I’m fairly sure
that getting your names down at the college meetings probably aren’t helping
you as much as having a passing grade in all those AP classes that you skip.”

Although seniors may be in a dire need of information for the colleges that they
are soon sending in their applications for, many juniors disagree with the seniors’ attitude
towards declining the opportunity for them to take part in the meetings and are finding
certain benefits in visiting the meetings a year early. “Juniors are students too, aiming for
good colleges, and we should be at the liberty to use the opportunities given to us by
West to help us achieve our goals as well,” says Jennie Jung, “It’s sometimes nice to
meet an admissions officer face-to-face and be involved…The college meetings I’ve
been to serve as a wake-up call, opening my eyes and serving as a nudge of motivation.”

As a solution, many students believe that creating more general meetings for the
most commonly visited colleges, usually Ivy Leagues, and increasing the use of the
Internet would be a possible way to end the discrepancies between the juniors and the
seniors. However, despite the contrasting views between the juniors and seniors, the
college meetings have been an overall success in advising upperclassmen in deciding
which college is the most adequate for them to begin a new journey of their educational
career.