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Waiting is Tough for College Applicants: The Stress of Anticipating Acceptance Letters Makes It Hard for High School Seniors to Focus on Their Schoolwork.

Posted on: Friday, 31 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By Georgina Stark, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Mar. 31--Ryan Cerone is finding it tough to concentrate in class. The high school senior doesn't feel like doing homework when he gets home. When his parents ask him how he's feeling, he doesn't want to talk about it.

It's been three months since he applied to five universities. The College of William and Mary and Old Dominion University have already accepted him, but he's waiting to hear from the other three, and the waiting is taking its toll.

"Now that it's getting close," he said, "ugh, it's so hard."

High school students - and their parents - are anxiously checking their mail as the bulk of acceptance and rejection letters arrives between now and the end of April. And guidance counselors are seeing lots of upset students that didn't get admitted to their first-choice college.

Students say whether it's a 'yes' or a 'no', they'll be able to breathe easier when the waiting is over and they can start making plans for the fall.

Cerone, the salutatorian at Hampton's Kecoughtan High School, also applied to the University of Virginia, Harvard University and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He has his hopes pinned on Dartmouth. If he's denied, he'll be disappointed.

"If a college says no to you, it's kind of a stab in the back," he said, "like you're not good enough."

The stress of waiting can take its toll on the rest of the family.

"It is very stressful," said Ryan's mother, Andrea Cerone. "You breathe a big sigh of relief for three months after applying; then you go 'Here we go again with the waiting.' "

Adding to the pressure, Cerone's parents have to figure out how to pay the $43,000 a year for Dartmouth's tuition, room and board if he is accepted there. Finding out how much financial aid he'll get involves more waiting. And more stress.

And through all that uncertainty, he has to stay focused on his schoolwork, soccer practice and a long list of other school clubs and organizations in which he's involved.

Christiana Betts understands. The senior at Hampton's Bethel High School is still waiting for a response from her first choice - Harvard - and the pressure is getting to her.

"I don't feel like doing my schoolwork," she said. "I mean, I do it, but I don't feel like it."

But students like Betts and Cerone can't afford to slack off in the classroom. An acceptance letter from the most competitive schools often comes with a contingency clause. Cerone's letter from W&M said he could go as long as he keeps his grades up until the end of the school year.

"I just want to stop school and give up," Cerone said, "but I know I can't."

Guidance counselors say they see a lot of tears this time of year, as students come to them holding rejection letters.

That disappointment and frustration is intensified when students see their friends getting accepted to places that sent them rejection letters, said Louisa Slagle, a counselor at Warwick High School in Newport News.

"There's a lot of anger going on, fighting, being not so nice to each other," she said. "I'm telling them 'Try to be understanding.'"

The pressure can be just as intense for students not aiming for Ivy League and other prestigious schools but are hoping to see an acceptance letter from anywhere.

Nick Roberts, a senior at Hampton's Phoebus High School, applied to Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina and Kentucky State University. He hasn't heard from either yet.

"It's stressful just to get in to any school," Roberts said. Roberts said the stress is making it hard to concentrate in class and at his part time job as a bus boy at a Hampton hotel. He's become impatient and rushes through schoolwork and chores, he said.

Roberts, who has a 2.8 grade-point average, said if he doesn't get in to either college he'll still have time to apply to local universities or community colleges. But he hopes he won't have to.

"I'm waiting on the line right now," he said. "If they don't accept me, I have to start all over again."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

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Source: Daily Press

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