Down to the wire for college hopefuls

Adi Castano, a senior at Uniondale High School, has been accepted at several colleges, including St. John's and Penn State. But she's still waiting to hear from her top choice: Stony Brook University.

"It is very nerve-racking," said Castano, 18, who applied to 11 schools but did not get in at Columbia or Cornell. "I am not a patient person when it comes to waiting. It gets even worse when you get rejected."

This week, it's decision time for many high school seniors. Many schools reported record numbers of applicants, and Ivy League schools let many hopefuls know their fate Wednesday.

Casey McLaughlin, a West Islip High School senior who already has been accepted to Yale and MIT, just learned she was accepted at Princeton.

"I was like 'Oh my gosh. This is great.' I was quite excited," said McLaughlin, 18, who applied to Harvard as well. "I think the most exciting one was Yale, and the relief set in."

Princeton accepted 2,282 students, or 8.39 percent, of the record 27,189 applications for the Class of 2015. Harvard University reported a record year -- nearly 35,000 applications and an acceptance rate of 6.2 percent.

The New York State university system remains a popular choice, with one local guidance director calling SUNY campuses "the new Ivies." There are 468,000 students enrolled this year at two-year and four-year SUNY schools -- up about 7,000 students from last year, when 461,000 students were enrolled. Applications are up 3 percent at SUNY Old Westbury, school officials said, at 5,641 so far this year.

"They are becoming a good buy for the money. It has always been so, and it is even more so," said Deadra Faulkner, director of guidance for Westbury High School.

Ellen Murphy, 17, a senior at Babylon High School, got into SUNY Geneseo, her top choice. "I got an envelope, it was a big one, and I pretty much knew," she said.

Tensions run high for many seniors at this time, said Locust Valley High School Assistant Principal Rebecca Gottesman.

"You have your students who are extremely excited and happy, and then you have students who can be brokenhearted if they were not accepted to their first choice," Gottesman said.

Zach Zadek, a senior at Half Hollow Hills High School East from Dix Hills, applied to only one place -- New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. He was accepted.

"Some schools are perfect schools for you, and that was the perfect one for me," said Zadek, 17.

Adam Parente, 18, a Locust Valley High School senior from Bayville, got into the Global Scholars Program at American University. It accepts 25 students.

"I really wanted to go to a school in D.C., and I picked this one and it offered the best option," he said.