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My College Journey - Jared Rush, Class of 2017 - Part 1

A College Testimonial – Part 1
by Jared Rush, Class of 2017, of Forked River
 
This is it, but it’s always been it
 
 
I recently found myself sitting across from my college counsellor, a man who for the last year and a half at my college preparatory school had been a mysterious, allegedly credible collegiate specialist, and was now my only friend on a dark path toward undergrad acceptance.

“You know… from your activity sheet, I get the impression you like reading and writing… a lot,” my college guidance advisor said during our first junior year discussion. He then followed up with a question that readers are all too familiar with—an inquiry that can inspire a range of emotions ranging from dread to zeal, depending on your personality type.

“Who are your favorite authors?”

I stumbled... "Living would be Leyner, dead would be Kerouac, with Rimbaud in small doses,” though I articulated this a bit more awkwardly." He was right about my inclination toward literature, though, and seemed unsurprised when I told him I wished to pursue creative writing.

For the next few months, I attended college meetings with the rest of my junior class, and things were, well, not how I expected them. The college process had always been a kind of abstract “beginning of the end" type deal, but as I diligently filled out my student questionnaires and wrote my petitions for teacher recommendation  letters, it didn’t seem all that different from a homework assignment or some other form that needed to be filled out.

Where were the hour-long meetings dedicated to calculating my GPA? Where were the filled up whiteboards that traced my eligibility to attend certain schools? Why was I not feeling absolutely stressed? Why was I stressed about not being stressed? Whatever visions I had of the college process, they seemed to be rather far from reality. If this was the “end,” it certainly didn’t feel like it.

What I did realize at a certain point is that while the beginning of the college application process is “it,”  it’s always kind of been “it.” The process is really just a continuation of all the processes I’ve been going through during my Upper School years at Ranney. All those nights spent memorizing vocabulary lists, editing essays and trying to understand pre-calculus had come and gone. The grades I’d be sending in with my applications had been attained long before I met my college guidance advisor, Dr. Accrocco, and the teachers who would write my recommendations already knew who I was and what I was like. Really, I’ve been preparing for college my entire high school career up to this point.

When the summer ends and I return to school as a senior, the college process will likely have a set of new challenges, but I’m no longer worried. I find it hard to justify such anxiety.

I have Dr. Accrocco, whose stories make me not only laugh but also realize that not every kid is a rocket ship-building genius, and whose very existence is a testament to the fact that thousands of kids (some of them probably a lot like me) have gotten into college without the world ending.

What’s more, I have myself, and the three years that have preceded this upcoming one, with all the hard work and dedication to prove that if I’ve done it before, I can do it now. And while it may still sound weird to say that, in a year’s time, I’ll be bound for a place where I’ll spend my next four years, I know it won’t sound so weird when the time does come.

Read Part 2 of Jared's college journey testimonial series
Read Part 3 of Jared's college journey testimonial series
 
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Ranney School

235 Hope Road
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777
Our mission is to know and value every child, nurturing intellectual curiosity and confidence, and inspiring students to lead honorably, think creatively, and contribute meaningfully to society.