Here I am, a high school senior, sitting on my bed, laptop on my, well, lap, banging out yet another essay I don’t want to write. It’s reached the point where even I can tell this isn’t a good essay - I sound angry writing it. To tell you the truth, I hate this whole “condense yourself into 500 words” thing the entire college admissions process thing makes you do. I know I’m more than just an essay and a bunch of statistics on a page, but how do I show that to a faceless admissions officer halfway around the world? Ugh, now mom’s calling me for dinner. Doesn’t she know that I need to get this essay done? “Gimme ten minutes mom!” I call back, staring at my screen. What should I write about? Should I be focusing on all the leadership and extracurricular stuff I’ve been doing for the last two years? Should I be writing something quirky as all hell? Those are the essays I’ve heard get people into the colleges of their dreams. But I haven’t done enough to write those amazing essays! That’s what I should write about - my lack of essay-worthy experiences! But wait, no. That doesn’t talk about all the this’ll-look-good-on-your-application stuff I’ve done. WHAT DO I DO?
That was exactly one year ago.
Today, I sit at the edge of my dorm room bed, my roommate practicing for his a cappella auditions on the bed opposite mine. If I could go back to last November and tell High-School-senior-me one thing it would be to CTFO (chill the ferschlicken out). Next year, I’d say, you will be one week away from a holiday you’ve never had before, surrounded by best friends you haven’t met yet, and doing things you haven’t even dreamt of. So if you want to do one thing, be thankful. Thanksgiving’s the best time for that. I realize now that I have a lot to be thankful for, something that wouldn’t have explicitly entered my frame of consciousness if it weren’t for those Pilgrims that thought they had found my country all those centuries ago. Thankfully, I was able to make my own journey over to America; thankfully, I’m at a place in my life where I’m surrounded by people I love and who love me; thankfully, I’m learning more now than I thought was possible, both in the classroom and on the hills of Tufts; and thankfully, it’s Thanksgiving.