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My inbox is littered with emails that include the word “Emergency,” have subject lines that are WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS, or are polished off with an assertive looking line of exclamation points insisting on the topic’s importance.  Occasionally, I will receive several phone calls and emails about the same topic in rapid succession, and phrases like “immediate attention” and “urgent response required” will be used.  My friends who work in high schools report that students and parents employ this frantic tone with them even more often than I see it.  And with final deadlines approaching, it would appear many of you have gone into crisis mode.

But with no knowledge of the details of these scenarios, I would guess that 99.999% of the time: they are not emergencies.

And how do I know that?  Because I do not work in an emergency room, I work in admissions.  As a general rule, we do not have “emergencies.”  The risk of injury or death in this world is statistically insignificant.  So when you think you have an emergency, take a deep breath.  In all likelihood, you have one of these instead:

A Category 1 Non-Emergency:  Something (moderately) important that you messed up.  For example:

• You didn’t realize that you needed SAT Subject Tests for some of your schools.
• You underestimated AP Calc (#mathishard)and now you’re en route to a C at the midyear.  
• You forgot to add your counselor’s email to your Common Application account and now your transcript is late.

A Category 2 Non-Emergency:   Something (moderately) important and generally unexpected. For example:

• You asked your physics teacher to write a recommendation, but she now has a family emergency and  can’t write it.  
• You filled out all of your applications saying you don’t need financial aid and now mom lost her job.
• You know you submitted something a few days ago but it’s still showing up as “pending” in your application checklist.

A Category 3 Non-Emergency:   Something that actually isn’t that important. For example:

• You found a single typo in your application.
• You used all 10 spaces to list your extracurriculars but have now realized that you did not include the one time you spent three hours in 9th grade baking cookies for puppies (an omission that, you assume, will be crippling in a highly selective process).

A Category 4 Actual Emergency:  Something that is important, but is unrelated to admissions.  This is where real emergencies fall.  The kinds of things that make you forget that you’re even supposed to be applying to college.  Things that actually matter in the real world to real people.  Natural disasters, serious illnesses, major accidents, deaths in the family.  Legitimate, unfortunate, out of the blue stuff that no one can control.  We hope none of you have to deal with things like this, but it happens.

Now that you’ve identified your flavor of (probably-not-a-real) “emergency,” take action!  Here’s how:

Category 1: Own up to your error, apologize as needed, and act to rectify it in a timely manner.  Don’t blame other people, and show some remorse.  (The Catholic-raised/educated part of me thinks you need to feel bad about this for a while, but do your penance and any sin can be forgiven.)   Most of these issues can be resolved if you make a good faith effort and communicate with the parties involved.  Fire up your email, and put a corrective game plan in place.

Category 2: See above.  Subtract the Catholic guilt.

Category 3: For most of these, you should probably just let them slide.  But if you’re all hopped up and it feels important, just send an email.

Category 4:  Do what you need to do, ignore us, take care of yourself and your family.  Applying to college is SO not important when the house is literally on fire.  Know that the real human beings on the other side of the desk will be there to work with you when you surface.  Let the dust settle, then connect with your counselor and your colleges.  I promise you: we have souls and we can figure it out together.

And for any type of issue, remember:

• Panicking does you no good.  We respect that you’re trying to do this right, and we get that you’re in a developmental moment when things like this feel like a really, really, big deal.  But try to relax.  You’ll get through it.
• Everything can be resolved during normal business hours!!!!  I cannot emphasize this enough.  The adults in your life (college admissions officers, guidance counselors, etc.) do not need to deal with these things on nights, weekends, or holidays.  Take your cue from us.  If we think it can wait until Monday, you know it’s not that urgent.

Happy applying, friends.  Be good to yourself, be good to others, and stay sane!