The big leap
What’s on your to-do list this April? Picking up the perfect farewell dress? Filling out tedious applications? Coordinating the last string of slumber parties? And finally, making the big decision of which college to opt for.
There seems to an trend reversal when it comes to picking up colleges. Teens are so determined to savour independence that the farther away a college is from home, is fast the more attractive it gets. “It’s not that I am restricted by my folks. I’ve always been at home with my parents sheltering me all my life. But now I have the chance and I want to use the opportunity to see life in its entirety all by myself,” says Venkatesh Sriram, who is picking a renowned college in Pune to major in commerce.
The parameters for deciding where to apply should normally be the quality of education, the history, the market value of the college and the financial investment. But according to Ebenezer Daniel, college is a time for experimentation and will lay the ground for the years to come, shaping the youngsters as they ‘grow up’. This can be only realised by uprooting oneself from a familiar environment and taking off to new surroundings. “I have waited to take off to college for years now, though I will miss my family, home and school friends. But the real high is, I’ll get to know life in a completely grown-up setting. I can’t wait to do my own chores, take care of my own bills and plan my day sans a schedule made by somebody else. It is liberating to know that finally, I will be the boss of my own life. And all this will be possible only if I enrol in a college abroad or across the country”.
For parents of such opinionated, college-bound teens, there is no relief in sight. After the college letters are received and opened, they are left with the daunting task of choosing the place where their kid will spend the next four years away from home. Parents, though agitated about their kids exercising their independence, should understand that the kids don’t need the added stress of having choices dictated to them. “As proud as I am about my son growing up, shaping his life on his own terms and being decisive about his selection of college, there is a part of me that will find it really hard to see him take off to college and be away for the next four or more years,” says a very skeptical mom, Rani Allwyn.
An all-thrilled Neha Shukla exclaims, “So much has happened over the last few weeks. My feelings through this crazy admission process — mum and I just about finished filling the tedious application forms — is overwhelming. As time closes in and the whole crazy concept of growing up, going to college, and (gasp!) moving out of home looms closer, I am less preoccupied with the fears and ecstasies, and more pleased with the fact that I’m in and I am going to college.
Post new comment