Early Decision results were released mid-December for our portfolio and athletic applicants, Audrey* and Nate*, leaving them with decisions in their hands. However, our service and audition applicants, Jenna* and Christopher*, had to wait a bit longer to know their fates.

The Portfolio Applicant: Audrey
With a smile on her face, Audrey breathed a sigh of relief: “I feel good.”

Having been admitted Early Decision to her first choice in December, Audrey has finally reached the end of her college application process and said she feels more stress-free than ever.

However, while Audrey no longer has college looming over her everyday life, her experience as a second-semester senior hasn’t been all that she’s expected.

“Second semester isn’t shaping up to be what everyone says it is,” Audrey said. “The workload is still pretty intense, unfortunately.”

Despite her rigorous course load, the lack of college applications to complete has allowed her enough time to get back to her hobbies and passions that she plans to pursue next year.

“Thankfully, I have been able to paint lately, and I finished my last series so I’m working on something pretty different,” Audrey said. “I’m glad that I have more time to focus on things like that than I did during first semester.”

Though most of Audrey’s friends are unsure of their plans for the coming year, she said there’s an air of relief and relaxation among the senior class.

“I think that now that apps are in, a lot of my friends are a little more calmed down than they were maybe a month ago,” Audrey said. “But I still can see that some of them are worried and it’s justified. I can empathize with them, but I am grateful for the fact that there’s that stability in my situation right now.”

Audrey said she will be looking at dorm rooms and shopping for warm clothes in the coming months and is excited to attend Barnard College.

The Service Applicant: Jenna
Having just received news that she has been admitted to her top choice school, Jenna officially passed the finish line of the college process.

After completing her Candidate Fitness Assessment at West Point, Jenna received a nomination from her congressman in addition to another unexpected nomination, meaning that her application was fully complete and supported.

Regardless of the stress Jenna she said felt after submitting her application, she also said that the wait was worth it and is proud to announce that she is officially a member of the United States Military Academy at West Point’s Class of 2022.

“[Getting accepted] shows me that all my effort has paid off and been validated,” Jenna said.

Jenna said she plans to ease up on her academic obligations and prepare for the next steps of entering service academy as a part of the United States Military Academy.

“My current mindset is just not to fail any classes but mostly to get into better shape,” Jenna said. “Mentally, I’m trying to prepare myself for [cadet basic training], which is what I’m most stressed and nervous about.”

CBT is a seven-week summer training session required of all future academy students. During this period, students have no access to the internet or communication devices, with the exception of letters.

“I’m just making sure I’m as mentally and physically prepared for the first summer as I possibly can be and then keeping in mind that it’s going to be a big mental game when I get there,” Jenna said. “I’m less worried about the academic school year than I am about CBT.”

Now that she has accepted her appointment to the academy, Jenna said her stress level is very low and comparable to any other senior that already knows where they will be going next year.

The Athletic Applicant: Nate
Following his admission into his Early Decision school as a swim commit, Nate said he can finally take it easy, and considers himself to be “on the very low-stress end” of the second semester senior spectrum.

“With academics, I’m definitely trying to relax a little bit more,” Nate said. “I’m still putting in effort, because I can’t let my grades drop too much. It’s not something I want to let myself do.”

Though Nate’s outlook on his academic career has shifted a bit, his plans for swimming remain as intense as they were before.

“I’m super pumped for high school season,” Nate said. “I definitely have some high goals in mind, so nothing has changed in that regard.”

Nate said he plans to continue this dedication as he transitions to swimming on a college level.

On the whole, he said he is relieved to know his plans for the coming year and is excited about being a college athlete.

“I want to be able to contribute as much as I can to the team my first year there and get there as a freshman ready to go and make an impact,” Nate said. “I think [being on the swim team] takes away a lot of stress from being thrown into a new place and not really knowing any people and trying to desperately find friends quickly. I kind of know that when I get there, I’ll have people who are there for me who are really excited to meet all of us.”

Until he arrives at Williams College in the fall, Nate said he is looking forward to finally joining his teammates on campus.

“I’ve been in contact with a lot of my future teammates in my class and older classes,” Nate said. “I think it will be even a lot more fun to finally see and meet them in person.”

The Audition Applicant: Christopher
Christopher, still celebrating his admission to his top choice college about one week ago, is finally at ease and finished with his college search.

After traveling to Colorado the weekend of Feb. 3 to audition for the music programs at both the University of Colorado Boulder and Denver University, Christopher said he was delighted with both the experiences and the outcome of the visit.

“It was lovely,” Christopher said. “Both auditions for Denver and for Boulder were just really comfortable. The whole process was really nice and I found out immediately after that I got into the [Bachelor of Fine Arts] program for Boulder and it’s my top choice right now.”

Though he had originally intended only to audition for theatre, Christopher decided to add a classical vocal audition to his application to Boulder, with hopes of a double major between a B.F.A in Theatre and a B.M. in Voice.

In addition to being accepted into the B.F.A program at Boulder, Christopher has also been accepted to Denver University and Willamette University.

While Christopher said he is comfortable and relaxed knowing that he has been admitted to his top choice university, he will wait to decide if he will accept his offer of admission until he has received decisions from all the other schools and music programs to which he has applied.

*Names have been changed