As senior spring begins to wind down, the class of 2025 is making their future college decisions. These decisions can be exciting to some, but sensitive to others.
This year, the class of 2025 applied to hundreds of schools, however, societal expectations have made an impact on where they ultimately choose to go, and how they react when certain decisions come out.
Lauren Martinez, a junior from South Hadley, Mass., has just begun her college search. While Lauren acknowledges the pressure of this significant milestone, she realizes that it is not the end of the world if she were to be denied from The University of Pennsylvania, her top choice. She is also considering applying to Boston University, Georgetown University, and The University of Richmond.
“It’s not a make or break but it would be nice if I could get in. I think that there is a lot of pressure on students, especially nowadays, to get into these specific schools,” Lauren said. “I think your family, parents and environment have a lot to do with it, [and] it’s easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself. Academic validation is huge to a lot of people – I know it is for me. Everything happens for a reason, and a school doesn’t define your worth.”
Sophomores are beginning to feel the pressure as well. Kamal Sergeev, a sophomore from Mayakovskogo, Russia, has repeatedly expressed that the reason he chose to go to a school in America, specifically Massachusetts, was to increase his chances of being accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Gabi Bobiak, a senior from Holderness, N.H., is very proud of her decision to attend The University of Vermont this coming fall.
“When I was deciding on college, for me it was all about culture, and how I thought I could grow as a person there,” Gabi emphasized. “I got into this [other] really good school, but at the end of the day I just thought the culture of UVM (The University of Vermont), was so perfect for me. Seeing myself in a place where I knew in four years, I’d be a changed and better version of myself, was the most important thing to me.”
In an article from NBC Washington written by Mike Stobbe, the author writes, “More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nations history.” The 4,317,119 births topped the 1957 record of 4,302,000, a 0.351% increase. This means that in 2025, there are more seniors applying to college than ever before.
Even the Ivy League was once much simpler to get into. For example, Cornell University’s acceptance rate in the 1980’s was around 50%, compared to today’s acceptance rate, a slim 7%. Consequently, this makes these admirable, top-tier schools, even more difficult to get into, regardless of high SAT scores and extracurriculars.
Emily McDowell is one of the four college counselors at Williston, and she has been working at Williston for 24 years. McDowell sympathizes with this specific senior class.
“The population is 3.9 million seniors this year, which is the highest it’s ever been in the US, and colleges aren’t necessarily getting bigger,” McDowell said. “So, while there is a spot probably for everybody, schools couldn’t take more students to accommodate for larger admission pools.”
“I feel that your best fit school should bring out the best in you, whether that’s academically, socially, ‘extracurricular-ly.’ I hope that students and friends encourage others to reach out for help and lean on the adults that are important in their lives to help them see that this is a decision that can feel very big and weighty, but in the big scheme of life is a very small blip.”
