Within the past few weeks, you may have noticed seniors either A) ecstatic B) angry C) in tears or D) indifferent. April showers not only bring May flowers, but college decision letters as well. From a first hand perspective, here are some things all juniors and underclassmen should be aware of as they face the daunting task of applying to where they will spend tens of thousands of dollars and four years of their life.

1. Have a “backup” school that you actually want to go to. Personally, I am sick and tired of people applying to schools as their “backup” and then getting upset if they actually have to end up going there. Why would you apply to a school if you didn’t even want to go there in the first place? The best idea is to apply to approximately nine schools: three schools that you know you will get in for sure based on your test scores and transcript, three schools that you are relatively confident about getting into, and three “reach” schools. All these schools should be ones you would actually go to and would not be disappointed if you had to spend four years there.
2. College admissions really are random and do not reflect you as a student. I applied to three Ivy League schools as my reach schools and was denied from two and waitlisted at the other. After working with college professors on science projects for three years, going to Italy on a study abroad program, participating in so many extra-curricular activities that I have little time for family, maintaining a perfect GPA throughout high school and even visiting the schools out East to express my fond interest, I thought I would at least get into one of them. However, that was not the case. Although disappointed at first, I realized that maybe I wasn’t what they needed this year. Maybe they needed more kids in the drama area this year rather than in the science department, or maybe the statisticians were correct when they said this was a record breaking year in the number of applicants for almost every school. Maybe the college wanted that kid who wrote about their pet fish rather than the kid who wrote about their pet dog. Looking at the results that most of my outstanding peers also received from some of the most prestigious universities in the nation, I truly believe that college admissions are random and do not reflect you as a student. The best thing to do is continue to follow a good track on high school and try to be well-rounded. Keep telling yourself that “it’s not you, it’s them” and don’t dwell.
3. Think about long-term. In the future, I hope to go into either pediatrics or sports medicine, meaning that after undergraduate schooling, I will remain in school for a long period of time. If you are like me and know that you will have to go to school beyond the basic four years of undergraduate study, think reasonably. Would you and your family be willing to dish out 50-grand every year for eight or 10 years in order for you to go to a private university out on the West coast? Throughout the college process, my mom kept pestering me to think about long-term. If I do become a doctor, where I get my graduate degree or Ph.D. will matter more than where I got my undergraduate degree. What is the point of going to Harvard for your bachelor’s degree and then downgrading to the South Harmon Institute of Technology for your medical license? I know we are only young adults, but start thinking about your financial status and be rational… I doubt a $400,000 debt is in your life plan.
4. Name is not all that matters. Don’t apply to Yale just because it’s Yale. When your counselor and those cheesy college advertisements say that you have to find a school that “fits,” listen. Visit schools and see where you are most comfortable because you will have to live there for four years. University of Chicago is a fantastic school to which I considered applying. However, after visiting, my personal feeling was that the campus was too depressing and gothic for me to handle. Not every college or university works for everybody, so don’t apply anywhere just because of the name or reputation.
5. Just because 30 seniors go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, it does not mean that ALL of Niles North goes there. Of course, about 30 students out of the 500 students in each graduating class will head down there (including myself), but there are MORE THAN 30,000 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT  U OF I. If you are really using that as an excuse not to apply and potentially go there, then you’re just lying to yourself and passing over what could be the perfect fit for you. You are bound to make a minimum of  10 new friends out of the thousands of students there aside from the Niles North students that you will OCCASIONALLY see if you choose to. I know a lot of people want to “be different” and not go there, but U of I is one of the best schools in the state academically and financially. It is also nice knowing that if you want to talk to a friendly face, you know somebody that lives within walking distance from you. So no, not ALL of Niles North goes to U of I unless by “all” you mean less than six percent of the graduating class. Last time I checked, that wasn’t even considered a majority.

Although applying to colleges is stressful, daunting and decisions are hard to make, the best thing is to know what you want in a school and figuring out your interests. There are also hundreds of connections you probably have to students who are/have attended the school you are interested in that you can contact for answers to your abundance of questions. So do your homework, be reasonable and be happy with your ultimate decision because you have to live with it for the next four years.