Hey. How’s it going? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’m a freshman in college now, thanks for asking. I just finished up my last midterm, and it had me thinking about you. Now that I’m in college, it’s made me realize something: you have a problem.

Now it’s not a really bad problem. But it’s a problem nonetheless. You care too much. And not about one specific thing; you care too much about everything. Even the college application process it built up to be this grueling, world-shattering process, one that can make or break a man.

It’s impossible for you to live in the moment. From the first class of freshman year, it’s all about where you’re going in four years. People rush to take AP classes or extracurriculars not because they actually want to learn something, but because it’ll look good on a transcript.

In some cases, that’s a good thing. You consistently ranked out as the best public school in Maryland, or top 100 in the nation for college preparedness, and you sure earned it. I can honestly say that my grades are better now than at any point in high school, and that absolutely freaks me out.

But it also leads people to some dark places. Cheating was rampant. I know of at least one case where someone harassed the transcript secretary to change a grade. Seeing one of my friends having a breakdown over their grades not being good enough was almost a weekly occurrence.

There are, of course, your star students. But for someone at the bottom, it can easily feel hopeless. I took ten AP classes during my high school career, and I’d wager that that’s about the median for my graduating class. So far, no one I’ve met at college took more than eight in high school.

The bar is set so high. I remember one day I told my cousin, who goes to one of the top public schools in Florida, that my school sent twenty people to Ivy League schools this past year. She was shocked; her school had sent one in the past four years. Even UMD is seen as a safety school for your students.

So, in some respects, I have to thank you. You prepared me for college better than possibly anyone or anything could have. But at the same time, I think you need to chill out. And to any current junior or senior reading this: I promise you, it’s nowhere near as bad as you think it is. You will be okay, even if you don’t get into your dream school.