This morning as I perused my breakfast options I realized there was just too much to choose from. Cereal, toast, yogurt, oats, eggs or a granola bar? I picked the two best options (toast and cereal), and I asked Siri to flip a coin. She flipped heads (cereal), and as I sat down with my bowl, I looked at the table in front of me covered in mail with my name on it. I know what it is: from college after college after college, telling me that I’m special and I should consider their university.
I watched this happen to my siblings too. Their mail now sits unopened in their rooms following both of their decisions to pick the University of Oregon (UO) as a college, much like a majority of the students that attend Summit High School. How they picked, I don’t know. I can’t even decide what to eat for breakfast, so how am I supposed to even begin to think about what I want for the rest of my life?
Upon further investigation, I learned that a lot of other people feel like this too. Sophomores still have two and a half years left of high school, and a decision like this is daunting.
“I have not thought about college yet,” firmly stated Andrew Bryant, a sophomore at Summit.
Bryant, and many others, have chosen to ignore the subject until attention is necessary, despite all of the college mail they have been getting. “I’ll probably start thinking about [college] this summer or junior year, but not now,” said Bryant.
He’s not alone in this idea. Junior year is when most students begin their college search process. However, Jeff Rankin, Summit’s Future Center Director, says that this isn’t the ideal way to manage your college search.
“We highly stress that [sophomores] start to become acquainted with the language of college searches and applications,” said Rankin. “That means coming to the future center and getting your SchooLinks account registered. Start to get just a general idea of what this process is all about.”
This all seems huge and daunting, the college process is starting to hang over our heads. But Rankin believes other things are more important.
“Study study study study, get involved in activities here at school, get involved in clubs, get involved in sports, mainly because that’s what colleges will ultimately be looking for. They’ll be looking at grades, but they’ll also be looking at extracurricular activity,” stated Rankin.
Get involved in the student life here at Summit, have fun, and try your best at everything you do. You don’t have to be doing these activities directly for college, but by doing these things you are helping your future self. So no, you don’t have to worry about college, but you should worry about high school. Go live a vibrant high school life, and it will end up helping you for college. Ignore the mail you’re getting, the colleges are just trying to advertise themselves, and this isn’t important to you quite yet. Go to the future center, (make an appointment with the QR code on the door first) spend ten minutes getting started, then go have fun!
Sophomores are 15 and 16 years old and only in their second year of high school. They have to ask to go to the bathroom, they aren’t trusted to be with their phone in class and some of them can’t even drive. It’s too early for them to dedicate every one of their actions to how it will look on an application. Right now, we should just be thinking generally, and for the time being, we can consult our phones. To join the chess club or not? Hey Siri: flip a coin.
