Go College Crazy

Recently, Stuyvesant held its annual College Apparel Day, when seniors wore outfits bearing the name of their intended colleges. While there is cause for much celebration and pride, there is also a tension that comes from an event that puts into the spotlight the institution that we obsess over: college.

The attitudes surrounding college influence the way we perceive College Apparel Day; while it should be a day of mutual support and pride in our schools, it also becomes a source of negativity when students choose not to celebrate their colleges. It perpetuates our school’s college culture, which instills the perception that our future is Ivy League or nothing. This idea takes hold well before students enter Stuyvesant. In one survey of incoming freshmen, 50 percent believed that they would attend an Ivy League or other elite university. However, the number of accepted students into such schools is far lower, with each Ivy accepting 10 or fewer students, except for Cornell, which accepts more than the rest of the Ivies combined. Including the eight Ivy League schools, plus Stanford, MIT, and UChicago, around 146 (17.8 percent) of the 820 Stuyvesant graduates in 2017 ended up attending one of these universities.

A comparison of these numbers shows that the expectation of getting into these especially coveted elite colleges is unrealistic. While it’s difficult to pinpoint one cause for that expectation, the combination of parental influence and immersion in a college-crazed environment heightens our standards, to the point where going to a lesser college would seem like a step backwards. We often joke about ending up in BMCC when we receive a poor test grade. The value that a community college holds for most New Yorkers is undermined when the college becomes the centerpiece for ridicule; one year’s senior prank involved the entire senior class applying to BMCC. While many of them were accepted, none of them actually attended and BMCC’s entering class that year was greatly reduced.

Regardless, there are seniors who proudly wear the name of colleges that are not the Ivies, MIT, UChicago, or Stanford—and we’re here for it. Students hold significant influence over each other, and a senior’s pride in his or her college does impact Stuyvesant’s college culture. To a Spectator board of sophomores and juniors, events like College Apparel Day, College Fair, and the College Wall of Rejection effectively challenge the idea that our future is Ivy League or nothing. When seniors celebrate their colleges and when representatives from lesser-known institutions fly in to speak to us, we begin to understand the idea of the “right fit.” When there is a wall tacked with colleges that students were rejected from, we view college with a more realistic perspective.

The Editorial Board interviewed seniors and alumni to gain a sense of how their perceptions of college have changed since going through the college process. Here is what they have to say about Stuyvesant’s college culture.

Anecdotes—Interviews have been condensed for the purpose of this editorial.

Rohan Ahammed, senior

Pomona Class of 2023

I think College Apparel Day is definitely a celebratory day for a lot of people. People are proud of where they are going. It is the one day of the year where people who've worked hard get to celebrate their accomplishments and the place they're spending their next four years in. But for people who are not yet excited with where they are going, or people who didn’t get into any of their dream colleges, it’s painful to see people around you succeed but you seemingly have "failed." This is unacknowledged but there’s a certain feeling of, “What did they do that I didn’t?” or “Why was it them who got in and not me?” which [are] toxic but natural thoughts people might face.

I think when people don’t participate in College Apparel Day, it results in an atmosphere of negative energy. What you're saying is that you're not excited for whatever college you're going to and want to hide it for whatever reason. College Apparel Day is more about being excited for the next four years and having been accepted to college rather than about which college you got into. No one will put you down for wearing a shirt of a safety on College Apparel Day. I think for some people, College Apparel Day brings up painful memories of the college application process of schools that might have rejected you but I think by May 1, people's mentalities need to shift toward “I’m excited for where I am going and there’s no looking back.”

Did I care that no one knew what Pomona was? No. Did I care that my dream school was Yale and I didn’t get in and there was a bunch of people wearing Yale shirts? No. I took pics of my friends who got into Yale and was happy for them. There was a kid [who] was like, “Why would you choose Pomona over Dartmouth the Ivy?” and I was like, “Because it’s my life.” Not everyone at Stuyvesant is like that. If you’re down on yourself for where you're going to college, that opens up room for other people to be down on you. Most people at Stuyvesant are positive people who will not judge you for what college you're going to. News flash: [more] people are going to SUNY/CUNY than not. That doesn’t mean people not going to those schools are going to look down on you for going to a school like that.

I feel like underclassmen also judge more harshly than seniors do because they have had no experience on the process and have misconceptions of what the process is like. People also don’t realize that what college you go to is an academic decision as well as a financial, family and a you decision. Also I personally think the Ivy obsession is stupid. A small fraction of the top percentage of the grade is going to get in, and even then it’s not guaranteed. Just because a school is more well known does not mean it’s better. Maybe more recognition helps but everyone has their fit. One of my friends was seriously considering University of Florida over Princeton, Yale, and UPenn because it was a better fit for her.

For some people, one month might not be enough time to deal with rejection or be excited with where they're going. But it’s ultimately better to use College Apparel Day as a way to move on by being happy for yourself and all your friends and peers. You can't be bogged down by your rejections for the rest of your life; honestly, it makes the rejections feel worse. Everyone has a different way of moving on; it’s up to you to figure out how to do that and live your best life.

Winnie Lin (‘16)

Baruch Class of 2021

It’s obvious that our attitude toward college is that since we’re in such a prestigious high school, our expectations of ourselves and our peers are much higher. And that definitely comes with the judgment of, if you’re not going to a school that’s Ivy League or even something out of state or out of NYC, it’s kind of a step down from what people expect of you. Changing Stuyvesant’s culture is hard because we know that we go to such a big-name school and we know that our college choices are important, and in the end, it’s hard to change that mentality in Stuyvesant, but it definitely matters less about what college you go to as you get older because it’s about where you want to go in life and there’s not much difference in what college you go to besides the people you meet and the things you learn, etc.

My thoughts on College Apparel Day are mostly that it’s a day to celebrate, but going to a CUNY, which wasn’t ideal for me, just didn’t mean that much to me. It was mostly the kids who [were] frequently featured in the yearbook [who] had their photos from there, and it just didn’t matter to me enough to buy something representing my college and go. It might be different for other people in terms of celebrating with their friends and etc., but I just was never too involved with senior activities.

But yeah, I would say in college, it starts to matter more about where you want to go, what your path is, and less about your GPA unless it’s important in the industry you want to get into. Because ultimately a lot of us are going to stop our education after the college diploma and grades won’t matter anymore. It’ll matter more about the kind of person you are, what you’re good at and want to do, and what you want to achieve because it’s your life.

I sound really pessimistic because I do believe that I kind of messed up in the college process but I still wouldn’t know what I want and what I’m looking for even if I could go back. And also, [I’m] making the best out of the situation because I probably wouldn’t have been traveling this much if I didn’t go to the school I’m going to now.

Yeah, lowkey there was probably a bit of shame in there that I didn’t go to a better school or a school out of the city.

I mean there’s probably some people who don’t see value in participating in things like these as well but I don’t know.

Lois Wu, senior

Princeton Class of 2023

To be fair, I do speak as someone who has been lucky enough to have had success through the college process, but I support College Apparel Day. I think that after working on our apps and being so stressed about college for so long, it’s good to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments and achievements. The energy in the senior atrium after school that day was so high—everyone was giving each other hugs and taking photos. I took some photos with a number of old friends I had class with back in sophomore or freshman year [who] I had fallen out of touch with, and it was just a really friendly place, in general.

I respect people who decide not to partake in it or decide to stay at home, but in my personal opinion, by May 6 or whichever date it will be next year, I think it’s time to start trying to move on—college isn’t the end-all, be-all of our existences. Keeping everything on the down low almost increases the negative energy around the college application process, in my opinion—everyone’s scared of asking each other where they’re going or where they’ve gotten in, which I get—sure, you don’t want to be nosy or disrespectful—but I also want to know where some of my more distant friends are spending their next four years and just be genuinely happy for them.