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College tours succumb to parental pressure

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Confession: my mom is more excited about college than I am. By far.

She has all the excitement, but none of the anxiety. Having gone through the process with my older siblings, my mom is now an (uncertified) expert on everything and anything college.

This becomes all too clear when we visit colleges.

From the grassy, Starbucks-filled campuses to the massive, musky libraries, even the crummy, suspiciously-stained dorm rooms make her “ooo” and “aww.” It’s an ongoing joke that she’s the one going to college, not me, because everything’s “so interesting” to her.

Going on tours with her, I find it hard not to laugh, but just as hard not to cry.

“You know, Jackie, this could be a really good fit for you.”

“You know, a big school has a lot of opportunities, but I think you want something a little more close-knit.”

“You know, I don’t think you want to be too far away from home…”

Mentioning this to my friends, I get a lot of sympathetic nods and murmurs of agreement. Sage Vouse ’15 calls her experiences “mildly-upsetting”  and “anxiety-inducing.” That about sums it up; going on a tour with my mom isn’t the apocalypse, but it is uncomfortable and stressful.

When the guide asks for questions, I find myself holding my breath. Maybe she’s just going to ask about class sizes, but still,  the second her words leave her throat, I already feel suffocated.

One tour with an over-enthusiastic college student, and suddenly I’m supposed to know what I want in my college? I can barely decide on breakfast.

It feels like my entire future is being pinned to death, like a voodoo doll. Harmless comments, like how she thinks a close-by school is “a great safety-net,” or how an open curriculum is “really cutting-edge. You want that,” become really overwhelming, because I have no idea what I want.

Especially when it’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday, and I’d trade anything to be sleeping in, for once.

 

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About the Contributor
Jackie Cope, Features Editor
Senior Jackie Cope is determined to “Make H15tory” this year,  as it is written on the windows of her car in hot pink writing. Cope is currently working on the Inklings staff as one of the features editors and is ready to bring fun, engaging, and colorful features to this year’s papers. “I am beyond excited to be in charge of features,” Cope said.  “Last year I was Opinions Editor -- still fun but I needed a change.” Some of her previous work includes a piece where she focused on the current fashion trends around Staples.  It is a prime example of everything she publishes: lively, well-researched, and thought provoking. When Cope is not reporting on pressing topics at Staples, she devotes a good amount of her time to volunteer work. This past summer, she volunteered as a teacher’s aid at Daughters Of Charity pre-school in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “To put it into simple words, my job was making sure these three to five year olds didn’t kill each other,”Cope said.  “It’s total chaos -- one minute they’re laughing at something that is minorly funny and the next they trip and end up crying as if the world is coming to an end.” Aside from having to provide constant attention, Cope very much enjoys the presence of children and viewed her time working at the school as more of a fun activity rather than a job. She explained that many people would find her job as a challenging one, since she would be, “with these kids for hours on end, every day.”  However, Cope survived, “simply by treating them as funny little humans,” she said. “I loved it so much that I still find myself sharing stories about them to my friends.” Unsure of her profession for the future, whether it includes being with children or with writing, Cope is ready to leave her mark at Staples High School. “Hopefully I will know where I will be attending school for the next four years before April,” she said. “Until then, I’m going to have fun, work hard and make my own history.”  

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