On the bus ride back from the March 15 AP European History field trip, one of senior Saro Acharya’s friends reassured him, “Just do it. Just check.”

It had been a good day so far, spent in the Legion of Honor Museum. Acharya knew that the longer he waited to find out about whether he had been accepted to Emerson University, the longer the anticipation would build up, and the more disappointed he would be if he were rejected. He checked.

And soon he was high-fiving his friend.

“That made me overwhelmingly happy,” Acharya said. “I was just really excited and super relieved that I finally got into a college besides like a [California State University].”

So far, Acharya has been accepted into Emerson University, San Francisco State University and the Pratt institute. He was rejected by New York University, Loyola Marymount University, The University of Texas at Austin and UCLA, and waitlisted by Chapman University and UCSC. All that remain are Northwestern University and the University of Southern California (USC), which both release decisions on April 1.

Out of the colleges that have accepted him, Acharya said he is leaning toward Emerson, since it is one of the top 10 film schools in the country and offers a “great” liberal arts education. The main campus is located in Boston, but the school also has a campus right on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Acharya still hopes for an acceptance from USC, the top film school in the country, but he knows the competition to get in there is overwhelming.

“What scares me is that no one from [the Media Arts Program] has ever gotten into USC for film,” he said. “That’s really intimidating, and I am not really sure what to expect.”

As he plays the waiting game, just going to school and doing school work have helped to take his mind off the “nerve-wracking” college decisions process. He avoids thinking about it whenever possible.

He has thought, however, about what he would do after entering college. He wants to get involved in a broadcast program and perhaps even work on a school newspaper.

“I have always been interested in journalism and I’m in SHSTV, so it fits right into that area,” he said.