Accepted, Rejected or Deferred? Keep the Answer Off Facebook
By REBECCA REDDICLIFFE
It’s that time of year again. No, not the holiday season, but the time when many high school seniors are being accepted, rejected, or, anticlimactically, deferred.
I could feel the stress of those seniors in the five minutes I pulled into the high school parking lot to pick up a friend’s younger sister the other day. For some lucky Ivy League hopefuls, it was the day that their No. 1 choice had become their one and only choice. For others who were less fortunate, that dream choice became an impossibility.
I’ve tried to move on and forget the days when college decisions were all anyone talked about, but it seems that I can’t; Facebook won’t let me. Every time I log in, I feel as if I am thrown right back into the stress and anxiety of the college process. It seems as if every high school senior who applied early decision, early action, or rolling, feels the need to advertise the college’s decision on his or her Facebook page.
I’ve seen a number of profiles in which the status was described as “deferred.” Others simply have a frown-face emoticon indicating a rejection. Many who are accepted to their top colleges are bold in their status choice. For example, I’ve encountered many statuses that read, “(Insert elite liberal arts college here) Class of 2014! Go (corresponding mascot)!”
I know that the Internet has become one of my generation’s principle means of communication and that privacy rarely exists. But I think the status updates about college are crossing a line. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d like to think there is a certain etiquette when it comes to college decisions, one that should remain intact, even on Facebook.
This is how I look at it: An average student these days seems to have at least 300 Facebook ”friends,” at least judging by an informal headcount I did recently on about a dozen accounts. Realistically, the average person is only friendly with maybe 50 of them (that’s a stretch), and good friends with probably 15 of those 300 friends.
By announcing what college you got into, you are obnoxiously broadcasting personal information that probably only 20 of your Facebook friends actually care about. And then there’s that girl in your physics class who was just rejected from the same college; she had finally stopped crying, but the tears started right back up when she saw your status. It’s going to take another whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s to dry the second round of tears.
So, if you got into college, good for you. Go call your grandma and tell her the news. If you didn’t, don’t worry about it. Start those other applications and enjoy your senior year. Whatever you do, don’t alert the entire Facebook community. It’s just not cool.
To share your own thoughts on the etiquette of posting college decisions on Facebook, please use the comment box below.
Ms. Reddicliffe, a freshman at Northwestern, previously wrote for The Choice about being the last of triplets to be dropped off at college, andreviewed the book “Admission,” by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Her father, Steve Reddicliffe, is an editor at The Times.
