It’s that time of year again!

No, the holidays are over, but for the college class of 2017, the time for celebrating is hopefully just beginning, as prospective college students are now hearing back from the early round of applications. I was in this position just last year, and to no one’s relief, I was also a nervous reck, like I’m sure many University of Massachusetts hopefuls were and are now.

To those that received early action decisions: if you were accepted and UMass is your first choice: it is time for you to now rejoice, and kick back and relax! Congratulations on all the hard work you put in at high school and time and effort put into your college applications — all of us here at UMass know the agony that you have just experienced. Now, it might be easy to slack off and not care about your grades anymore, but remember that your acceptance is a conditional one:  the condition being that you leave high school with similar grades to those that you sent to UMass originally. So while you enjoy the rest of senior year, make sure you don’t slack… at least not too much!

To those that were rejected: You have our condolences. We understand that rejection is not easy, but it’s now time for you to fall in love with another school and for you to pick up and keep moving! Turn up the heat and continue writing those other college essays. You will end up where you belong, so just trust the whole process.

And to those that were deferred: I understand this can seem worse than a rejection. You may now be doubting if UMass is really your first choice because you are resenting the decision made by the Admissions Office. You waited for weeks to receive a decision to only read that they don’t yet have a decision for you; it’s a shame, but let me just reinforce the fact that you still have a shot to get accepted, as long as you keep your grades up. On the other hand, don’t rely on that possibility, so keep your options open and continue with your other applications. I’m sure that you would love UMass just as much UMass would love  to have you, but just in case it doesn’t work out, start looking at other schools and  begin to imagine yourself there. Good luck, and welcome to the fraction of applicants that have been accepted so far for the class of 2017!

Purti Pareek can be reached at [email protected].