I am a college kid. Yes. I finally chose where I will be in debt to for the next 10 years of my life. Thank God. But what about those other schools I applied to?
As I tried to kindly decline my acceptance to my alternative schools, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. *Click Here* *Pay Your Deposit NOW* *Become an Eagle* “No no no. I do not want to go here,” I say to myself. Unfortunately these schools could not hear me.
College has become such a business that schools make it a complete obstacle course to withdraw. No one told me that I had to be a college-website-navigator-athlete to get through this. No joke. Scrolling through tabs, logging in special codes, clicking on certain colors and buttons-I’ve had enough. After spending about 15 minutes attempting to do this for one school, I decided I had better things to do, like enjoy my Senioritis. But then I realized that giving up was disrespecting other kids who are dying to be in my shoes. The fact is that if an admitted student denies his or her acceptance, a “waitlisted” student has an opportunity to go to that school. By finishing this “denial” process I could be changing someone else’s future! So I enter the college’s cyberspace pages one more time. Nope. Impossible. WHERE DO I GO!!!!!!
And this was only for one school. Imagine if I had to do this for over 20 schools?
Nowadays it seems kids apply to ten schools minimum. It is becoming more and more sociably acceptable to apply to 20 schools. This is when you thank the beautiful invention, “The Common App”. Its website allows prospective students to apply to multiple schools with just an easy *click* with your keyboard mouse. Mind you each application to each school is around $60, and to send your ACT scores is another $15 oh and don’t forget about your SAT scores, so throw in another $15. Wow, applying to college really is as easy as clicking a button, isn’t it now?
So after you get flat out rejected by your dream school (after reassuring yourself and your friends/family that you’d get in), you have to pick the school you will go to because at this point you are looking to go anywhere since you are tired of living with your parents in suburbia.
But there is always that slim slim chance you could be taken off the waitlist, and finally admitted to that picturesque dream school. Except your dream college’s waitlist will never get shorter because the colleges make it IMPOSSIBLE to confirm that you will not be attending in the fall. They are the reasons why kids become permanent “waitlisters.”
In the end I gave up trying, sort of. While I never did figure out how to decline the offer of admission, I did figure out a solution. So as May 1st approaches, take the easy route – please e-mail admissions of the schools you can’t see yourself at, and tell them the truth. Make a kid in Minnesota’s life by helping to get them off the waitlist.