Freshmen have a lot to start thinking about: some are preparing to get a driver’s license and choosing the classes they want to take. College and career adviser Shay Bellamy said college should not be one of these concerns, and instead, they should prioritize preparing for sophomore year.

Despite this, freshman Aarya Patel said she thinks about college all the time and feels pressured to get into a good college, especially because her parents have already hired a college counselor.

“Mainly, I’m worrying about all the different criteria that colleges are looking into: grades, testing competitions, honors that you can get and clubs that you have to be in,” Patel said. “You also have to do an extracurricular in school, make sure you’re well-rounded, and do a ‘passion project,’ whatever that means.”

Patel said she is trying to major in programming, which is a hypercompetitive field. She is involved in computer science, hackathons, poetry and water polo. She also takes after-school math, science and physics classes. This adds to her stress because she feels she has to do well in these respective activities to have a better chance of getting into a top college, Patel said.

Likewise, freshman Jonathan Raveh said he started to think about college this year because he felt the need to start making decisions about his future. Raveh said he hopes to get into a good college and is thinking about majoring in finance, but he is afraid of failure.

“The good colleges in the US are expecting more and more from students every year and I don’t know if I could achieve what these colleges want,” Raveh said. “If I didn’t get into one of these colleges, I would be disappointing my family and myself.”

Bellamy said she worries the quantity of stress in high school is unhealthy. She said she sees a lot of students whose college decisions are influenced by outside factors.

“I always remind students that it’s the college that they’ve chosen, not their parents, and should be a college that they’re comfortable at and that fits their personality,” Bellamy said. “I don’t encourage just going to a school because they heard an Ivy League name, or because they think that it’s the best school.”

Bellamy said she rarely encounters freshmen who come in to ask questions, but when she does, she encourages them to focus on their grades, getting involved in the community and figuring out high school.

“Coming straight from middle school and ninth grade is too soon to be trying to guide them into a college,” Bellamy said. “Yes, I want them on the college path, but I also don’t want them to be influenced by college stress at the freshman level.”

Bellamy said she emphasizes the importance of making the right decisions for the specific person by researching and visiting colleges. She recommends working on self-discovery at that age, regardless of future career plans.

“Start to discover the things that you like and the things that you don’t like, for example, if you like working with people or even if you like animals or not,” Bellamy said. “The simple things that you are noticing about your personality, will guide you in the right direction as far as being able to find a career.”

While Patel herself may stress more about college currently than other issues, she said she does not think the stress she has around college admissions herself is healthy, either.

“Freshmen need to remember that we are 14 years old,” Patel said. “In a perfect society, we should not have to worry about this yet and society’s putting a lot of pressure on us. You’ll always go on the path that’s right for you. It’ll all work out.”

This story was originally published on The Epitaph on March 7, 2024.