Spring has hit Washington with the opening of cherry blossoms, signaling the onset of the tourist season. People come in droves, often in buses, usually in groups from schools across the country, Boy and Girl Scout troops, church affiliations, garden clubs, professional and trade associations, marathon runners, and early retirees — all ready to get a crash course on American history, democracy, the founding fathers and mothers. They look at documents, art, walk the Mall, stare at Lincoln, Jefferson and climb the Washington Monument. And if they are clever, they get off the Mall and see some of Washington’s great neighborhoods filled with historic houses, museums, restaurants and self guided tours. You can check it all out at Cultural Tourism DC’s web site.
Another group traveling the town are prospective college freshmen and their families. Acceptance letters have been going out and students are now deciding where they will enroll next September. While the application process of a few months ago came with fitful anxiety, this final stage of commitment comes with a different sense of apprehension. Last fall, each student filled out five, six, seven, maybe even 10 applications, giving themselves options. Using the scale of 1-5, most student had two “highly likely to get in,” two “reaches to the heavens,” and a middle pack of “I’m a plausible candidate but who knows how it will all shake out.” Now that the admission letters are in hand, the decision must be made about where to spend the next four years. Incoming freshmen will soon be putting deposits down to hold a place in the class and a bed in the dormitory.
But there is yet one more group sensing the springtime air: college seniors. For them life is about to take a new turn, as they struggle to secure places in graduate and professional schools or out in the world of work. Newly minted MBA degrees will soon be sitting in the cubicles of investment banks, graduates of law school are signing up for summer bar review courses, engineers are looking toward Silicon Valley, and education majors will spend the next several months preparing lesson plans.
It is said that the first year class at colleges can easily put on a collective ton of weight in the first semester eating dining hall “cuisine” and binging on junk snacks. I believe the senior class can easily loose a ton — fitting into interview clothes requires a trim presentation.
One of my former students told me recently that when she stayed on at the same college she attended as an undergraduate for graduate study, the faculty who had previously had her in their classes suddenly expected her to know so much more than she had been taught. She felt the need to read more, stand up straighter when arguing her point of view, and put on a more professional air. It was a sharp signal that the easygoing days of undergraduate life were over and profound changes were under way.
In many ways, campus life infantilizes students at the same time that they are growing up, separating from home. Over the four years, emotions ride a rollercoaster, work and habits take form as boys and girls become young adults. Spring is transition time for nature and college students.
