Take a deep breath!

Hello Class of 2023 applicants!

It was 7 years ago this week we found ourselves exactly where you are right now - waiting to find out SCEA admission results. The class of 2016 was the first class of reinstated early action, and truly no one was quite certain what to expect…including the admissions department itself! In our home we were simultaneously counting hours while trying to distract ourselves from the pending portal. It felt almost impossible to think about anything else. Every change or hint in one direction or another was enough to trigger mass panic. And every year since I have thought of all of you who have applied and now wait.

In our case, the news was what we hoped to hear on that Thursday in December. For many, it’s not. And it’s to you I am writing today. Countless students spend all of their high school years preparing for the decision that hinges on numbers and essays and a certain randomness associated with a hand full of schools. One way or another you are not your admission decision. If you are accomplished enough to fall anywhere in the admission statistics, congratulations! You will certainly have many options ahead of you, whether or not it includes Princeton. Be kind to yourself, enjoy these precious last months of high school, and be proud of all you have accomplished so far. The future is bright!