Advice to a High Schooler

Different schools offer different resources, from the number of faculty to the size of the rooms to the connections of an alumni base. All of these schools - even the ones that might reject you - are looking for a class of students from diverse backgrounds, with diverse interests and abilities. Your admission is not about you - it's about the match. Sometimes there's space in a class for a particular talent, sometimes it's a bit crowded. I can't tell you how that will work in your case.

What I can say that is you are true to yourself, it will follow as surely as night follows day that you will find a place that fits you. (1) My place was at Williams - it matched me. Your place may be there or elsewhere, but you will find it. As to your butterflies - this is the first big decision in your life, and it's perfectly normal to be nervous. You will probably look back with the wisdom of extra years and laugh at your ignorance. I certainly have. But you have a legion of classmates in schools rich and poor in the boat with you. All of you will come knocking together. My hope is that you knock on all of the doors that you would go through. 

 

You asked if I had doubt. I did - I went on a grand college tour and didn't like any of them. What school was I to apply to? Into this breach stepped the marvelous propaganda that is the Williams College Prospectus, but I was lucky to have been on their list - and lucky that there was a school in the country that matched my values. There was no promise of that. I didn't even know where Williams was located in Mass - I thought it was near Boston and we missed it on the tour. I very nearly ended up at Georgia Tech.

But that would have been ok, and so it shall be with you. This is big - it's major - but it's only the start of your adult life. There are many bridges but the crossing is universal.

(1) - Shakespeare