Yellow Bands and Instagrams: Seniors Share College Decisions

The college application process requires time and energy: Students are challenged with writing supplemental essays and completing standardized tests, all while engaging in standard academics and extracurriculars. Many seniors struggle with the extensive amount of work involved. An anonymous student recalls, “The month leading up to the early decision release date was the most difficult and trying academic month of my life.”

Many seniors cite effort as one reason they want to tell their peers about their college decisions. Sofia Schaffer ’23 points out that seniors “have worked really hard to get into college and are excited that their years of labor are finally paying off.” Others like Sophia Neilson ’23 enjoy learning about decision results because “it can be a lot of fun to see where your peers are going!” Schaffer describes a similar mindset when she says: “We’ve put a lot of time and energy into applying to college, so of course we want to see each other succeed!”

Not all Hopkins seniors, however, are comfortable with the environment that college decisions create. Teddy Johnson ’23 mentions that “the Hopkins environment can sometimes be competitive in a toxic way.” Kyle Holler ’23 finds that some seniors will also discuss whether or not one of their peers “deserves to get in” to their preferred college, a practice he labels as both “harmful” and “unproductive.” An anonymous student observes that “people naturally compare themselves with others,” without regard for the detrimental effect this can have.

Another controversial topic is the @hopkinsdecisions2023 Instagram account. PJ Cooney ’23 told the Razor that he believes the account can cause more harm than good. Cooney notes, “I think it should be taken down as it could be inadvertently harmful to some students.” Many Hopkins seniors prefer to share application results on personal accounts, “[so] the account serves zero purpose,” explains Ryan Schatz ’23. Other seniors like the account because they can learn about their peers’ acceptances. Holler says, “I think [it] could be a good way to put all of the acceptances in one place.”

Some Hopkins seniors are wearing a yellow bracelet to signal that they are not willing to talk about their college decisions. The bracelets are given out by School Store Manager Tracy Bray and anyone can stop by to grab one. Neilson supports the bracelets: “I think they’re great! Everyone should be allowed to be more private about the process.” Others are not in favor of wearing bracelets to make a statement. Laila Samuel ’23 says, “I can see how it came from a good place, but it’s a little immature that kids who don’t want to talk about colleges are supposed to wear a yellow bracelet.” Samuel also points out that, for students who do choose to wear the bracelet, “people will probably assume [they] received negative news or something is going wrong.”

Dhalia Brelsford ’23 emphasizes that the decision to disclose information about college acceptances is, ultimately, a personal one: “Share what you want to; don’t share what you don’t want to.”