For seniors, the months of January through March mark the season of thick and thin envelopes and joy and sorrow. From the very moment we begin wracking our brains to write an essay that perfectly captures our personality and quirks in 500 words or fewer, to May 1, the deadline to commit to a college, seniors are on edge, constantly worrying about the next four years of our lives.
We turn to social media to seek some solace in these tense times, looking to watch some cute cat videos or Vines, but instead we encounter even more reminders of that application we just submitted, and as our peers update their statuses to “Prestigious University 2018!” many of us can’t help but get a queasy feeling in our stomachs, wondering, “Why haven’t I heard from them yet?”
Congratulations on your recent college acceptance, or sympathies, depending on your decision, but at the same time, please consider other students, who, upon seeing your status update or tweet, become depressed or anxious about their own college tidings.
An Instagram photo of your acceptance letter with an Amaro filter is not only tacky but also tactless during this sensitive time when students are essentially deciding the next years of their lives.
Proceeding with care and caution on Facebook or Twitter isn’t to cater to the sour grapes and bitter melons, it’s being aware and mindful of that girl in your calculus class who got rejected from the same college you got into and the boy in Spanish who didn’t get as good of a scholarship as you.
Rather than impulsively announcing every acceptance, rejection or deferral to all 400 of your Facebook friends, most of whom couldn’t care less, try this: tell your family and close friends your happy news. Hug your parents or thank the teachers who wrote you letters of recommendations instead of tapping away at your smart phone.
But don’t think that this means you have to keep all of your feelings bottled up until the end of time.
Thankfully, we have the Renaissance Assembly at the end of each year to go completely bananas, but until then, for the sake of your peers, show some class and put off updating your “Education” tab on Facebook.