For many students at Lexington High School, college is the next step post-graduation. Although the transition may seem daunting, many graduates have had positive experiences when entering college for the first time.
Audi Lin, a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, notes that LHS students seem to face similar amounts of stress in college compared to high school.
“[College] is better stress, because, at least for me, at LHS, it was very competitive and toxic…Everyone gatekept, would hide their grades, [and] there’s just no collaboration on any homework. But in college…even though you’re stressed, there are people helping you,” Lin said.
Noting how the competitiveness in high school centers on college admissions, Lin believes there is no guarantee a college or high school name will boost future job opportunities.
“It’s what you make of what you have that sets you apart from other applicants…Which is, also I guess, kind of true at LHS. Weirdly a lot of people know about LHS in general. So does carry a little bit of weight. But what you do at LHS is more important than just being at LHS,” Lin said.
Students are often taught to believe that they should have their career paths set before going to college. However, colleges also allow students to explore different areas of study. Christina Li, a junior at Harvard College majoring in applied mathematics, only found her passion for math through university.
“Math had never been something that I had particularly been drawn towards in high school. But upon coming to college, I think I fell in love with math, mostly through the courses I was taking. It’s good to have a sense of where you’d like to be, but I would say just keep your options open,” Li said.
However, it can still help to explore areas of interest at LHS through clubs and activities for finding a passion early on.
“I think my biggest inspiration was being on the robotics team. In high school, I was on the Parity Bits, which is the robotics team. That was my main coding thing, so I wanted to continue doing that,” Lin said.
Similarly, Ria Vasishtha, a freshman at Barnard College, recalls the importance of debate in her high school and college experiences.
“I wasn’t a super confident speaker at first…but the people around me and going to tournaments really helped me and even led me to do debate in college…I also judge for LHS debate a lot. I think that’s a good way to stay connected,” Vasishtha said.
Interestingly, the STEM presence at LHS has also influenced many students’ interests, even for those not majoring in the hard sciences.
“I’m doing econ, and I’m probably going to end up doing econ [and] stats or econ [and] math, even though [I] never really expected to do that in the first place. Our high school has a pretty rigorous math curriculum…so then once you have that, you want to use that in college,” Vasishtha said.
Colleges also offer a wider variety of classes than high school. Some of these courses have been particularly interesting and thought-provoking for students.
“I took a seminar with Claudia Goldin, who actually just won the Nobel Prize in Economics this year. I got to hear more about her perspective on her research…She primarily researches issues of [on] work and family. So for women, how can they achieve both a career while balancing starting a family? It was an awesome experience and such a privilege to be able to take the course with her,” Li said.
Reflecting on her high school experience, Vasishtha said she still hopes to keep in touch with the Lexington community.
“Although Lexington was a stressful period of my life, I do enjoy a lot of the experiences that it’s given me. The people have been really great at Lexington…I definitely will not live in Massachusetts [in the future]…But I do think I’ll stay in contact with people,” Vasishtha said.
