by Ziv Golan ‘26

Flashback to the year 1990. My mom was applying to college with only one school on her list, Indiana University. She had grown passionate about journalism while on her high school paper and after attending a journalism conference at Indiana, she had essentially already decided she wanted to go there. The simplicity of that time is now long gone, and the situation nowadays is much more hectic.

I entered high school a nervous wreck, walking into my first club fair desperate to join as many activities as possible. I wrote my name down for several clubs that I clearly had no interest in other than to pad my resume. I felt this was what was necessary, I knew even at 14 years old that college was becoming more difficult to get into. The University of Maryland had been admitting less in-state students in recent years and the popularization of the common app caused colleges to receive a significant bump in applications. I was constantly comparing myself to other students, thinking that because a friend was participating in a certain activity that I had to as well.

As I dizzied myself with the need to ‘get ahead’ I focused on a few activities that I found genuine enjoyment in. Starting with Newspaper: I initially joined the newspaper to walk in my mom’s footsteps; however, I grew to enjoy writing and felt that in the newsroom I could be myself while gaining new skills. It’s Academic was another extracurricular which I instantly fell in love with. After-school trivia practices and matches brought me closer to so many incredible people and introduced me to an atmosphere in which I thrived. When participating in these activities I did not feel that I had to race against others to attain certain titles or leadership positions. I discovered what it felt like to learn, but also have fun rather than face constant pressure.

College admissions has now become a massive industry, and it is very easy to become obsessive over the process. Every time I log onto social media I am flooded with influencers granting advice on essays, or highlighting what classes and extracurriculars students should be doing to get into top schools. It is impossible to escape the flood of information, creating a stressful atmosphere. When there are tier ranks of the extracurriculares that are best versus ones that are sub-par or not beneficial at all, students can easily feel insecure.

No one should be placed into a box because they dedicated their time in high school to playing a sport they genuinely love, or joined only a few clubs they felt they could have an impact rather than leading specific student groups because an influencer told them they should. I was certainly swayed by the talk online and constantly questioned whether I was doing enough, but I truly believe I did stick to activities I found fulfillment in. I am happy that I pushed myself in high school to join activities that I knew would challenge me, but am equally as glad that I joined such activities for the purpose of enjoyment. High school is such a unique time to explore interest in a contained, safe environment, so don’t waste it on stress but instead take advantage of all the amazing opportunities to discover true passion.