Plans

So this past week was the infamous week (atleast in my competitive school’s mind or maybe just my mind) where Ivy League College acceptance letters came out. Even though I didn’t apply to college this year, I still held my breath as the gossip traveled around for who got into which college. I analyzed what were the possible reasons that allowed such person to get into such college and whether or not I have similar credentials. If I can’t get direct access to the gossip, then I go on College Confidential (!) to read about people’s statistics and activities if they got in. My list of activities obviously pales to theirs most of the time, but once in a while, there’s some stupid kid that got in and I can have some hope. But, this has honestly just become a routine for me.

Little bit of background about me. I love plans. I have to plan everything. Even if I just want to go to the mall with my friends one weekend, I will plan out every minute of it and plan out all the travel times (obviously keeping in mind the traffic). Along with the first plan, I also always up atleast up to Plan C in mind because you never know that will happen. Let’s have an example really quick because I am procrastinating on summer applications and I need to plan for lunch with my friend this weekend. So first, we will go to Ike’s sandwiches (love) and Popbar, but if that can’t happen, then we will eat across the street from school, and if that doesn’t happen, then we will just eat the basic food that the school serves. I need to know everything and I am prepared for as much as I can. Maybe its because I love to micromanage people and everything because I always have to be the one in charge. Or maybe it’s because I’m afraid of change in the future.

Now that college is becoming so real, I have to think about my backup plan for literally life. I know it sounds pretentious that college will determine my life and, yes, I understand that that is most probably not true. But let’s have a little more backstory. Because I am an only child Indian girl, who has strong, independent (black jk) parents, there is a lot of pressure on my shoulders. My parents want me to go to brand name college so they can brag to all their friends during the family friend parties (you know what I mean). When we were discussing colleges, they expected all these top level colleges to be safety schools for me, and I was like y’all need a reality check right now. But really, they only want the best for me, and I only want to make them proud.

Obviously, I want to go to Stanford or an Ivy League school, but what are the chances that will happen? After that, I would settle for a UC school because I will be close to my family and they’re pretty bomb. And last resort would be some sort of safety school with an almost 100% acceptance rate. But what happens if I don’t get into any of these schools. What if I don’t apply to proper safety schools, and I literally don’t get into any school. What would I do then? I could go to a local community college, rack up some credits, and then transfer to another university. That would be my Plan D. I really hope I don’t have to get to D, but that’s what it would be. It feels good to write it down and solidify it, but it’s also scary.

Maybe it’s better to live in the moment instead of having to plan all the time. At least those people aren’t always stressed for the future like me. Maybe surprises are fun. But I don’t think I’ll be able to stop planning any time soon. Excuse me while I create a Plan D for my weekend.