by Amby Sarabia
Managing Editor
I’m confused. I thought senior year was supposed to be easy, the way that it was in high school.
I remember senior year being filled with socials, parties and ditch days. By the end of the year I had late arrival and early departure.
Sure I stressed for two months as I applied to colleges and checked the mail box every day hoping to get word that I was accepted into the college of my choice. After meeting deadlines and receiving my letter of acceptance, the rest of the year was smooth sailing.
Coming into college this year with the same preconception, I am now overwhelmed with pressures I was not warned about. Yeah, I know that I was going to have to make decisions at some point during my senior year, but I was in denial with just how fast I was going to have to decide which path to take.
It wasn’t until a fellow classmate asked me, “So, Amby, what are you planning to do after college?” that I started to worry.
What am I going to do after college? Attend graduate school? Hold a full-time job? Travel the country?
Left with few desirable and not to mention realistic options, I have decided to take the plunge and try and get into my dream university – NYU. Yeah I know it’s highly unlikely unless you’re a genius of some sort, but, hey, it doesn’t hurt to try, right? A bruised ego can always heal.
My weekends are now spent filling out college applications, writing entrance essays and stressing over each aspect of the admissions process.
My Sundays have also been handed over to college tests, as it is spent studying for the GRE exam and trying to cram as many vocabulary words into my head as I can. Words such as: perspicacious, panegyric, prodigality, perfunctory, chicanery, assuage and my new favorite magnanimity. Whoever has come across these words before and has deciphered their meanings, feel free to give me a call and tell me your secret, because I need to learn these words as fast as I can.
The free time I had put aside for myself between and after classes has fallen victim to the GRE test also as I practice math problems. Math problems which I haven’t encountered since junior year in high school.
My decision to attend graduate school after college has not put my conscience at ease. There is always the possibility that I may not get in, so I have to come up with alternative plans – scary, life-changing plans.
Just thinking about the decisions I have to make makes me want to crawl under the covers of my twin bed and hide in my dorm until senior year is over.
Can’t I just get a free ticket into the grad school of my choice? I’ve been really good at ULV. Don’t I deserve a break? I’m not ready to step into the real world. One which doesn’t care where you come from, how hard you’ve worked or who you are.
The world I am about to be launched into in the next six months cares about how high I score on a test that was constructed to cause the test taker’s brain to go numb on site.
This is a warning, for all those who come in contact with me on a day to day basis, if you hear me mouthing large incomprehensible words and their meanings, have no fear, I am merely taking the steps to prepare for my next endeavor, the real world.
Amby Sarabia, a senior journalism major, is managing editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at amby182@earthlink.net.