“Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission …”
As I was reading this on March 7, I sighed with relief. I finally received the assurance that I have the option of going to a college of my choice. Unfortunately, all the anxiety and stress didn’t disappear after one letter.
As a senior, I constantly wonder if I will get into the other 12 colleges I applied for, and I still have an itching of uneasiness in the back of my mind.
I realize one of the reasons for my anxiety relates to the whirling of questions in my mind. What am I majoring in? What career do I want to pursue? My answers are always changing, and having an indecisive personality doesn’t help, either.
In the first two years of my high school experience, I had a whole plan. I knew I wanted to be a nurse because of my mom’s influence. She wanted to be a nurse, too, but couldn’t fulfill her dream because she couldn’t afford to go to college.
I loved the flexibility of the job. I could work as a registered nurse while also being able to study to earn a higher position like a nurse practitioner.
As I became more exposed to the thousands of jobs out in the world by talking with my friends and teachers throughout high school, my passion for that career lost its charm. I realized that I should make serious decisions about my future quickly instead of listening to my parents’ trying to sway me into a career I don’t end up loving.
I know it sounds unauthentic, but I really don’t care about how much money I earn. I want a job that I cherish and want to do for the rest of my life, and every high schooler should make finding a career very seriously.
Because of the impact social media has done to influence different kinds of people, I was drawn to the production of YouTube videos of big corporations like BuzzFeed or Vogue. I love the fun cut videos of interesting trends that millennials come up with.
But I can’t decide what I want to do still. I should be happy with my five acceptance letters and celebrate for the next chapter of my life, but I can’t be satisfied because I’m uneasy about my future.
Hopefully, after some extreme research and self-reflecting, I can come to a conclusion on May 1 and decide on one college to go to.
So, senior year isn’t as academically stress-free as all the iconic movies like “High School Musical 3” and “Grease” make it out to be — only if you care about your future.
