I'm already feeling nervous: College? EEK!

It’s only my sophomore year, and I am not going to shoot for an Ivy League school (just because I’m not that attracted to any of them), but I’m already going through a preliminary phase of passive-yet-nail-biting-ridden anxiety.

“You know,” my mom says about every weekend in a very polite, tentative tone, “if you have some free time you could start writing your résumé ….”

I nod, kind of sadly, not really willing to accept that I’m going to have to start this much-dreaded phase of my life. Writing a résumé is just one event symbolic of this phase.

Wouldn’t it be nice if NYU would just let me in? If they just gave me a letter that said, “You’re In,” I would be able to kick back and relax, while maintaining a healthy focus on my current education.

Yes.

Right now I’m already reassuring myself that it doesn’t matter what happens in the end, even if high school seems like one huge pass/fail test as far as being accepted to the “College of My Dreams.”

What really matters, though, is that I’m doing my best while maintaining sanity and happiness amidst the academically rigorous Uni schedule.

But what would really make me happy, not to mention my mom and dad happy too, is if I got into a good school. So I can’t completely ignore that college will be a part of my future, right?

I must do that generic volunteer work, be on some sports team at some point, play some kind of instrument, develop my portfolio, win some awards, and get decent grades, even if it all seems like a drag.

The seniors have already been wandering around like zombies for the past couple of months, many stressed and fretting over being admitted into colleges and universities, so it’s hard not to get infected by pre-college anxiety.

Then, with the PLAN and the ACT tests, we are starting to analyze ourselves as our scores come back. A couple of (hopefully!) two-digit numbers tells us where we stand, and how attractive we will look to colleges compared to all the other high school students out there.

It’s all pretty frightening, and even though Agora Days is coming up and we will all get a break from homework and grades, I’m feeling an early case of senioritis coming on.