As we look ahead to school break and graduation, our students have so much to be proud of. In another record-breaking year at the most selective colleges, with applicant pools that continue to expand and acceptance rates that continue to shrink, our incredible students earned nearly 60 acceptances to Ivy+ schools, over 230 acceptances to the Top 50 universities in the US, and nearly 20 acceptances to the nation’s top liberal arts colleges.
When you just look at the numbers, though — these numbers, or any numbers really (over 120,000 applicants to NYU! Northeastern accepted 6.7% of students! Apps to Yale increased 50% since 2020!) — it’s so easy to lose sight of the individual stories, victories, and disappointments that define this process.
And yet (as they do every year), families have been asking: “Is it really the hardest it’s ever been to get into college?”
The answer is yes… and not exactly.
Certainly, in the post-COVID environment, application volume has either increased or held steady at most highly selective schools due to the prevalence of test-optional policies — which seem to be here to stay. This, of course, has had the effect of driving down acceptance rates and sparking more frenzy than ever around the need to apply to more colleges.
Uncertainty around this process seems to be at an all-time high, but there are some things we know for sure: while outcomes may not always unfold as imagined — whether you’re accepted to your top choice school or not — it will not determine the trajectory of your life or happiness. Responding to a distraught California senior who was rejected by her dream school, Brown University, author Lori Gottleib writes in her “Dear Therapist” column:
“An identity is shaped from the inside, and nobody gets to choose it but you.”
“Acknowledge the loss, and allow yourself to grieve,” counsels Gottlieb. “But remember that it was an imagined future — you don’t know what your college experience would really be like until you get there.”
At LogicPrep, our students learn this long before admissions decisions are released. Our College Advisors help high school freshmen and sophomores explore who they are and what defines them early on through coursework, activities and internships. Then, in the application process, we continue to help them distill what they’ve learned when drafting their personal essays and defining the best-fit schools for them.
Opportunity is always right around the corner if you’re open to it. So, the same message holds true for our graduating seniors as it does for our applicants about to embark on this process: try not to live in the imagined future. Remember that your life is unfolding now.
There are so many great places our students are headed off to and so many more exciting stories to be lived. I can’t wait to see what you all do next.