Filed under: College | Tags: College, financial aid, game, santa clara, vanderbilt
I called in yesterday. I waited for ten minutes before I got an answer. “City and state, please?” “San Jose, California.” “Is that in northern California?” “… yes.” “Let me transfer you over the a counselor.” Three rings. She was busy with another person. To leave a message or not to leave a message? I hung up. Forget it. If I didn’t find out tomorrow, I was going to call in on Wednesday.
Today arrived. I opened the mailbox right when I got home. Nothing. The mailman was going to be late again. I decided to let my dad get it when he came home. When the multicolored package of stuff finally made its way to the study room three hours later, I started searching. There was a thin envelope. They say that colleges changed it a few years back so you never knew what was coming at you. I opened it up.
“The result, I regret, is that we will not be able to offer you any need-based financial assistance for the 2007-2008 academic year.”
Uh, okay, so it was a financial statement. Where’s my status? I sorted through the rest of the mail. Nothing. Andrew got a Santa Clara letter of interest — I didn’t even get a confirmation from that college. I ran to the kitchen and told my mom, “It’s just a financial aid letter, they said that I didn’t get any aid, nothing unexpected…”
Why the hell would they give me financial aid results if I didn’t even know a thing about my admission? I read the line over and over again. They wanted to keep my financial options open. Wait. Options? Open?
Last week, it finally hit me that I might be in deep water in this waiting game. I pretty much applied to every school with a competitive major. I was so scared that I wasn’t going to end up anywhere. Everything about me was so out of balance. Nothing seemed to be fit. I was so lopsided in my academics and extracurriculars. I didn’t know what the colleges were going to make out of it.
I realized that I didn’t even get to read the other 80% of the letter. My eyes quickly scrolled down: PLUS Loan, FAFSA, payment options…
“We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your acceptance—”
It took me ten minutes to figure this out.
I didn’t read anything after that line. Honestly, it didn’t matter anymore. I was going to college. One step towards finishing the application process. It’s such a good feeling when you know that there’s a place out there that’s willing to take you in for the next four years of your life.
I guess I was worth something after all.
