January 15 marked the last major day of deadlines for many seniors in their college application process. Mixed emotions fill the class as excitement and relief are met with anxiety. With the exception of rolling admissions, on which decisions are released relative to the time of submission, and early action and decision applications, which were released in the past month, Wildcats can expect to hear back from schools in March and April.

Some students already know where they will be in a year’s time. Ashna Tumuluri is one of the senior class’s soon-to-be college athletes, recruited to play squash at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I was offered a spot to play at UPenn in November of 2021. Although I found out, I still put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in school because I wasn’t actually accepted yet,” said Tumuluri. “After I got the official acceptance, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. And now that we are [in the] second semester, I feel more relieved and I’m allowing myself to dedicate more time to my squash which is great.”

Other students are still waiting on responses. Desea Bond does not yet know where she will be attending next year, but she has hopes.

“I applied to some smaller schools early like Fordham, USF and Pepperdine. I got into Fordham but haven’t heard back from the rest,” said Bond. “I’m still waiting for UC’s and all my regular decision schools like Yale, Columbia and MIT.”

Now that the pressure is off of seniors, the junior class has begun to ramp up their efforts in the start of what will be a year long process. Junior Trisha Garud has begun the arduous process of college applications.

“We’re only about one semester away from having to start writing essays, so I’ve been focusing on documenting impressive and meaningful things from my extracurriculars that I can write about,” said Garud. “Now [applications are] right here about to happen, but we’ll get through it!”

In only a few short months, the Wildcats will be sent off from their NDB community as they graduate, caps adorned with logos from their new academic homes. Until then, the work continues, now in the form of waiting.