The frenzy, the tension, the chaos, the confusion…there are a gamut of emotions people go through or have gone through when one’s kid’s college admission process is in full swing.
The admissions season has arrived…and How!!! The results of almost all entrance exams have been announced and there is a flurry of activity in every household who has a child worthy of, in either age or merit, being admitted into colleges. And guess who is the most tensed, excited, nervous and anxious, all put together? No, it is not the candidate that much, rather the parents and the grandparents and the neighbours including their pet dogs.
So many documents to be photocopied, attested, signed, sealed and to be checked, rechecked by the hassled parents, students and the administrative staff at the colleges, that they might even be dreaming about them all night, for many nights. Not much of a dreamy dream to be dreamed, I know, but still, one cannot control what one dreams of, can they???
Then comes the endless wait in the queues at the admissions’ office of the college. Everyone here, including the college staff is clueless about the happenings. Most of them are running around one building to the other to submit documents and some others are just aimlessly roaming around with documents in hand and apparently having a tour of the campus for the umpteenth time. At Least wait till your ward gets a seat confirmed!!! That's the level of heightened enthusiasm and excitement of the parents, clubbed with cluelessness.
Nobody knows why the other person present there is actually there. Everyone has so many varied questions that one wonders where one is. I even heard one of the hapless parents asking the admissions staff if the parents also can use the gym and fitness studio facility available on campus and if it has cross country trainers!!! The flabbergasted staff member didn’t know what hit her and where to look!!! Neither did I!!!
After many marathons of running around the campus and submitting all kinds of letters, DDs, TCs, Study certificates, marks cards, documents, copies and double copies signed and sealed by everyone possible, even by the neighbour’s pet dogs, finally the admission is confirmed!!! Sometimes I wonder where do they store such heavy duty documents and what importance do they really have!!! But that's the system and procedures nobody can escape from.
The ward then gets a welcome kit with ID cards and lets out a huge sigh of relief…no, but not the parents, not the grandparents and neither do the neighbours, no signs of sighs there…not yet!!! Coz they all are then waiting with baited breath for the D Day…The Orientation!!! There is so much more to know, so many more questions to ask. After all their precious…not the ring…here it is their child…is entering a grand new world!!! The world of college.
The orientation day arrives and the parents, grandparents and the neighbours in tow make a grand entry into the college. It’s show-time, folks!!!. The child has secured a seat here and it's no mean feat. The college representatives run around making seating arrangements for the huge crowd that turns up, almost 100% more than they had expected. The admitted child is sitting meekly in a corner, shy, unsure about the happenings, about the future, worried about making new friends, adapting to the new stage of life.
The parents on the other hand are on cloud nine. They think that their child has made it!!! He/she is the next Jeff Bezos or Sundar Pichai in the making. They are even thinking of the hefty pay packet their child might get once he/she gets out of college and mentally making calculations. So immediately you can hear hushed whispers all around you about how the child must study hard, make use of all the on-campus facilities including the gym mind you and basketball areas, be a part of all the clubs, get scholarships, get 100% attendance awards and simply become successful…quick and easy!!! After all, the admission is done.
Admission: It sounds more like a Mission of Adding the children into a machine of success and expect them to come out all shiny and finished, ready to be served fresh into the world. As far as the parents are concerned it is- Mission Accomplished!!!
It should indeed, no doubt, be the goal of the child and the expectation of the parents- that the child must work hard, study harder, get the experience and be ready to face the world.
But one must not forget that the young ones here must also enjoy their college lives, make friends, learn new skills, learn to fail, experience romance, bunk classes, learn to cope with heart breaks, tease each other and basically chill. This is the best phase of their adult-student lives. They need to breathe in the fresh air of being an adult, have the freedom of making their decisions, take responsibility, learn from their own mistakes and own their decisions.
So dear parents, just let them be….you have done your bit by getting them admitted into a good and reputed college. Now, let them breakout of their cocoons and let them fly…onto their onward journeys and create their own paths…
You just sit back and watch…support!!!
Your child has grown!!! It is your time to ADMIT it!!!
Admission…my friends!!!
