Trevor+K's+OpEd+Article

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**College Acceptance ** **By: Trevor Kirby **

An excitement and misery. A joy to imagine and an enigma in reality. College is a mystery. It is unpredictable and is replete with possibility, but getting there is the hard part. A prestigious university requires high GPA, high SAT/ACT scores, rigorous courses, extracurricular activities, excellent teacher recommendations, and a massive amount of community service. Admittance to a high end college is not a walk in the park. In fact it seems like a tiring sprint with many twists and turns leading to an overwhelming sense of exhaustion over the time span of four years.

Since the beginning of my freshman year, I have worried. I have been paranoid, and I have been freaking over the idea of attending a “great” university. But this is where it ends. I have always felt that when it came to college my best was never good enough. I strived and rose up to the challenge every day of my high school career, and still it seems as though that I failed myself. I am tired. I am sick and tired of worrying over one aspect of life that requires so much out of me without any promise or hope.

It ends now. I refuse to let college dictate over even the most insignificant amount of my happiness. I have worked and worked in high school, aiming for the best grades and taking on numerous extracurricular activities, and I deserve to be rewarded.

Don’t even get me started on the ACT and SAT tests! I have never seen or taken such a stupid test in all of my life. How could one test have such control on my entrance into college? I study and study, and I am still unhappy with my scores. Perhaps I may be a “bad” test taker, but that pretty much means I’m screwed. So I therefore continue to study while trying to maintain great grades in all of my other high school classes on top of extracurricular activities, and end up with no sleep.

In reality all I can do is perform as best I can and hope that it’s good enough. I am my own worst enemy. Only I can hold myself back from furthering my education. I know that no one has pushed me as hard as I have pushed myself.Attending a prestigious college is my choice, and I choose to follow through, but with the confidence to be proud of my past high school career.