Seniors Receive and Reflect On College Admission Results

Every March, the college application season for seniors draws to a close with the final release of college decisions. Because expectations for all Exonians are high, students approach it with a mix of anxiety and excitement. The college process is often characterized by mixed emotions, which are often directly contradictory: criticism of the College Counseling Office (CCO) and praise for its help, frustration from the competition that surfaces internally among classmates and communal support of everyone’s future.

On Mar. 13, The New York Times Op-Ed columnist and author Frank Bruni wrote a piece titled “How to Survive the College Admissions Madness,” which highlighted two stories of bright young adults who didn’t attend their top choice college. Bruni showed that they both surpassed the initial rejection, or even exceeded expectations perhaps because of it. One of his two examples was Jenna Leahy ‘06.

“Although [it was] stressful, I had an awesome college counselor who was always extremely supportive and who helped me with any worries or questions I had.”

Leahy attended Scripps College after being rejected from her top school, Claremont McKenna college, as well as many others to which she applied. A hugely active participant and head of many teams and clubs on campus, Leahy was a well-rounded and determined student throughout her time at the Academy. But upon receiving a denial of admission from Claremont McKenna, she said it made her question “whether [I was] good enough for this one institution…whether [I was] good enough in general.”

But ironically, once Leahy arrived at Scripps, she realized Claremont McKenna would have been a less than ideal school for her. Additionally, she found herself emboldened by learning to receive and recover from rejection. “Because I went to Scripps, I got to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond,” she explained.

Since she was no longer so afraid of rejections, Leahy said that she applied for competitive grants and programs fearlessly. “I was able to say, ‘what do I have to lose?’ So eventually, that significant college rejection process actually gave me more confidence in myself and my abilities in an interesting way,” she added.

Director of College Counseling Betsy Dolan saw Leahy as a “wonderful person and student [who] epitomizes the best qualities of an Exonian.” Dolan commended her impressive and successful reaction to what felt, at the time, like a debilitating rejection.

Dolan also noted the “misconception that ‘elite’ colleges are exceptional in everything for everybody.” The impression that many students are better served by other schools, and to call the most selective colleges “elite” in the first place is a “mistake.”

However, the pressure to attend an elite or top college remains at Exeter. Many believe that too much emphasis is placed on the name of a school, causing students to base their personal worth on the ranking of the college they attend.  This makes rejection especially hard to bear. Words like “corrosive,” “internal competition” and “deadlines” came to the minds of some Exonians. 

Leahy said she wished she could have told a younger self and current Exonians that elitism is found not only in colleges with low acceptance rates but also in winning a scholarship or being recruited by a school of any level. “If the idea is the most elite option, think about that, because there is a lot of elitism in winning a major scholarship or having a school really, really want you,” she said.

Nevertheless, the critiques of how Exeter handles the concept and admissions of college is not limited to the issue of elitism. Some seniors were discouraged by the apparent late start for college counseling. “With CCO assignments not made until upper winter, the college process at Exeter is one that officially starts quite late,” senior Zoha Qamar said. She said that a dichotomy exists because college is on the minds of students from the start of their time at the Academy.

Senior Jonathan Regenold said that the college process caught him “off guard.” While he had always been told to visit many colleges and apply to those one liked best, “it costs a lot of time and money to visit,” which makes this search process inaccessible to many students. Even though the process is now over for Regenold, he said that he wished he could have had more more time “to explore many other schools and potentially apply to them as well.”

However, many found virtue in CCO and the guidance they received from their counselors. “Although [it was] stressful, I had an awesome college counselor who was always extremely supportive and who helped me with any worries or questions I had,” Senior Class President Stephanie Chen said.

Regenold also expressed gratitude for the availability of his college counselor. Though he found he approached and completed the process mostly on his own, he said his counselor was “awesome and would even reply to emails over break.” He continued, “thankfully, at Exeter, the college admissions process is both a personal and a communal one; I was always able to keep everything that I thought was personal to myself while at the same time being able to get support from friends.”

With the college process now complete, all of the seniors who were interviewed stressed the importance of valuing the higher education every member of the Class of 2015 will go on to receive, and celebrating the successes of each of their classmates.

“It's just way too easy for kids here to get worked up about the competition of college applications, to get this tunnel vision with Harvard and a six-figure salary at the end of it. It’s important to step back, breathe, congratulate your friends on their acceptances and appreciate the fact that it's a privilege to attend college no matter where you end up,” senior Elsa Chinburg said.

Senior Ruby Epler agreed. “Most schools are great, and by pressuring ourselves to get into the most selective universities, we may be discounting other equally-amazing schools,” she said.

College admissions is a topic that will always be controversial. Because it is a personal experience, its influence on students’ futures and the high standards that surround nearly everything at Exeter is strong. Despite this, seniors, faculty and alumni agree that “there are many avenues to get to success and happiness. You can get a great education at many different places. Don’t just set your eyes on one prize,” as Leahy said.