College admission is a profession that has seasons. In the fall, optimism and industry abound. Seniors feverishly complete applications, hearts in throats, as they put their best feet forward to make a positive impression on all those colleges they desperately wish to attend. Juniors start to understand the looming importance of college choice, and the juggernaut of standardized testing looms large on the horizon.

The late fall and winter is a fallowing. Scholarship and financial aid applications for seniors, the onslaught of tests, papers, and more tests for juniors. And a whole lot of waiting. Waiting for admission results. Waiting for test scores. Our collective breath held as we await decisions.

Those decisions are rolling in now. Each day brings news of victory, and inevitably, defeat. Instead of looking at the losses, I implore my seniors, their parents, and indeed our community to look at the opportunity in those places that have said "yes!". 

The pandemic year has wrought sizable change in college admission, some of which is here to stay for better or for worse.  We cannot control how the colleges have made their decisions, but we can control how we respond, to celebrate the yes, and to look forward with optimism to the spring of college admission.