Leigh Jacobson

Editor-in-Chief

It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means family events, friendly dinners and lots and lots of conversation. Which also means, invariably, that the same recurring topics of conversation are bound to be brought up at the dinner table. Despite the fact that most of us seniors are looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner as a time to take a break from some applications, kick back, and enjoy some stuffing, many of us will have to suffer through the inevitable college inquisition. It seems that it is not possible to sit down anywhere without being accosted by an over-inquisitive adult who just has to know what your future plans are, and can’t help but repeat the same questions over and over again.

It’s almost as if there is nothing to our existence at this point except the college application process, with all of our other projects, community service work, and extracurricular activities completely ignored as we are interrogated over and over again about what’s next.

We at The Roar have catalogued the top five questions you shouldn’t be asking a senior at this point, in continuation of our college-themed series… so please, do us all a favor and just don’t ask them.

THE TOP 5 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULDN’T ASK A SENIOR

                                                                           1. Do you know where you’re going? 

No. We have no idea where we’re going, it’s November. Early decisions don’t get back until December, and the only ones who have heard anything are the ones who applied to schools with rolling admissions. Why is it that most adults seem to be under the impression that seniors at this point are set and ready to take on life when we’ve only been at school for a few months?  And following up the question with “Well, what are you looking for?” isn’t very appreciated either.

2. What are you majoring in?

 You know very well that we’re still in high school; you just asked us what college we want to go to. Why would you ask us about a major when we don’t  even go to a college yet? Each school has different majors, and sometimes even different variations of the same type of majors, under alternate names. Maybe next time someone asks me this question, I should take them through the list of every unique program or major related to my field of interest, school by school, until they regret ever approaching me in the first place.

3. What’s your backup school?

Asking this puts us in an extremely uncomfortable position because we don’t quite know how to answer it. What if we name a school that we perceive to be a backup option, only to get a dirty look and hear that that’s where your niece went to school and that it is in fact a highly competitive institution? Or what if we choose to avoid that awkward route and tell you that we don’t have a backup school, only to be asked if we think we’re too good for one? Please just spare us all the uncomfortable moment and just don’t ask.

4.  What if you don’t get into your top choice school?

Why would you even ask that question? How do you think we’re going to respond to that? By telling you that we’ll bawl our eyes out and cuddle with the Ben & Jerry’s for a week straight until we’ve resigned ourselves to the fact that we didn’t get accepted? No. What other possible response can we give to that question besides “I’ll go to another school”?Honestly.

5. Have you considered (insert alma mater here)?

This is by far the most uncomfortable question you can ask us. And if we respond with a “No,”don’t ask us why. Would you like us to tell you that no, we have not in fact considered your alma mater because it is renowned for its hostile professors/ugly campus/bad reputation/awful location/clinically depressed students/unattractive student body/terrible dining? Didn’t think so. Back off.

Check in next week for the next article in our college-themed series.

To read our previous article in the college series about the top five things you will hear on every college tour, click here.

To read our previous article in the college series about the top five mistakes to not make on the Common Application, click here.

All graphics by Leigh Jacobson.