For millions of people all across the globe, April 1st will be a humor filled day of pranks and jokes. However, some dean of admissions must have a real sense of humor, as it is on this day that many Staples seniors will receive the most serious of news: college acceptance decisions. For these seniors this is not a piece of news to be taken lightly. Here are five tips to minimize the stress involved with opening that email.
1. Open it alone.
Whether it’s your best friend, mother, pediatrician or rabbi, tell the crowd to go away! The acceptance email is truly best opened alone. It’s stressful enough opening an email that you’ve been waiting for months, (or in some cases it would seem years…) but having someone peer over your shoulder increases that emotion by a factor of a billion. If an admissions officer made a terrible choice, and the decision is a rejection, you might not want to experience that with your entire extended family.
2. Get out and do something
Time will seem to pass glacially slow if you just sit in your bedroom, counting down the minutes until the email is sent. Your anxiety will reach record levels if you remain stationary. You need to do something. Take a walk, play tennis or watch a movie—just occupy the time in some way.
3. Stay off college confidential
This is easier said than done. It’s so tempting to venture to that little corner of the Internet where SAT scores and GPAs are dissected. It will only make you worry more though. It doesn’t matter if last year an applicant with a 2400 SAT and 4.4 GPA who started her own biodegradable t-shirt company was rejected. This has no impact on your decision. Furthermore, this could very well be some college junior who enjoys watching college applicants squirm with angst.
4. You can’t beat the system
You just can’t. You’re going to find out your decision on the day and time the school says it is going to be sent out. It doesn’t mean anything that your applicant ID number ends in an even digit. This might seem ridiculous, but posters on college confidential will try to convince you the most meaningless, arbitrary details are ironclad proof of your acceptance. Simply, it’s all a load of crap.
5. Do your homework
Many want to ignore their assignments for the following day, thinking, “if I’m in to college, who cares about that test?” Play the safe side, study for the exam. You don’t want to end up rejected from college with a ton of homework to do and imminent failed tests. That’s just not going to be a fun place to be.
