As students at Dreyfoos, we care far too much about college acceptances. Whether your “I’m going to Harvard!” status gets 700 likes or your “Duke class of 2018” gets 500, we are infatuated with each other’s success, and for a good reason. This year’s senior class seems to be making a significant mark in the Ivy Leagues. With students being admitted to Duke, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton, it seems like Dreyfoos holds the true talent in Palm Beach County. As amazing as that is, it’s becoming apparent that college acceptances are more about gloating your success rather then reveling in your own accomplishments.
I know what it feels like to crave praise. After getting into Emerson College with the Dean’s scholarship I was quick to announce my success on Facebook. A simple announcement became an obsession with the number of likes I received compared to other students. I’m not the only one with this desire to be recognized. Now, more than ever, students are associating peoples’ intelligence with their college acceptances. “She got into [insert college here]? Wow, I didn’t know she was that smart!” “They got into [insert equally prestigious school here]? Whoa. They must be smarter than I thought.” Although I agree that someone who gets into Princeton is very smart, college acceptances don’t define someone’s intelligence.
We can’t make these amazing last months of our senior year a competition on who got into the hardest schools. Now is the time for us to revel in our successes. After all the work we put in for the last three and a half years, these next few months should be a time of reflection and happiness, not one of comparison and jealousy. Don’t let others’ acceptances ruin your own accomplishments, everyone here at Dreyfoos follows a different path and I have no doubt in my mind that we will all become successful in our own way.
So maybe you didn’t get into Harvard, or maybe you got into your dream school of FAU. Either way we should congratulate every single senior for their acceptances because you don’t know how hard they tried to get into that school.