Early Decision: The Wait is Like a Plague

The clock ticks slowly once a senior pushes the “send” button on an early decision application. The wait is agonizing, and feels like being in a horror movie about plagues of epic misfortune.

Waiting. It’s all anyone’s talking about.

Acquaintances in line at the grocery store, heads tipped conspiratorially together at holiday concerts, clusters on the sidelines of sporting events, and any seasonal party attended by the frayed, exhausted, and justifiably pickled parents of high school seniors....