College decision time: possibly the most stressful time in the year of a high school senior. Everything that everyone has accomplished in the past 18 years is at stake, determining whether or not one will get admitted into their dream school. However, it is essential to remain calm and cool no matter what a few admissions people tell you.

My mother and I were talking the other day about grade point averages; I began to talk down about my GPA, even though it is pretty acceptable. My mom was stunned. “Isn’t it sad that so many people think that even a 4.0 isn’t ‘good enough’ these days?” she asked. I thought to myself how critical young people are of themselves. Most of my friends and other peers in my classes have done nothing but stress themselves out over the past four years. Joining a thousand clubs, sports, honor societies, and every AP class offered, all to get into a college. Everyone thinks that they are “setting themselves apart from others,” when really, everyone is doing the same thing. It is more difficult than it seems to fill out a college application when one is trying extremely hard to stand out.

When I think back to filling out my couple of applications, I remember pressuring myself to write the best possible essays and show myself off in the most exquisite ways. This is normal and expected, but why was I freaking out? Why did my heart pound out of my chest whenever someone brought up college while I was awaiting decisions?

What seniors really should be focused on is the true effort that they put out in their teenage years. If a college can’t accept someone at their best, then that college might be losing out on something great. Do not worry; if someone wants to go to college and their top school does not admit them, college will still be in their future, no doubt. If a student has the determination to go to school, they will succeed somewhere. When it comes down to it, someone’s acceptance into school is determined by just a few people that work in the admissions office. Do not devalue yourself or your academics for the rest of your life if you get denied! Just focus on the now and be happy.

Just take a deep breath; good things come to those who wait. Life will throw a million different obstacles at you, but they will only make you stronger. As my parents have always told me when things have not gone my way: “It is what it is.”

I am Jessica Borla, and I am a second semester senior here at Lambert High School. I am SO ready to get out of Forsyth County and go on new adventures in college. However, it has just recently hit me that my whole life that I’ve known here is coming to an end very soon; I do not want to take it all for granted. My column, “Last Lambert Moments”, is specifically for seniors, capturing how to make the best out of the final months, weeks, days at Lambert.