Seniors Await College Word of Acceptance : Education: Many students spend spring break anxiously watching the mailbox, expecting notice whether they’re in or out.

Jesus Perez was worried. Two of his friends had already gotten letters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he still hadn’t heard.

So when the San Fernando High School senior called home during school and found out a letter from the prestigious university had arrived, he had only one question: Was the envelope thick or thin?

It was thick. And Perez was ecstatic.

This season, thin is out, at least for prospective college students. April is traditionally when acceptance--and rejection--letters from Ivy League and other private universities are mailed.

And the word is, the fatter, the better.

“We tell the students to look for the fat envelope, because you know that contains not only the letter admitting the student, but also financial aid and housing information,” said Harold Soohoo, a college counselor at San Fernando High School. “Fat envelopes generally mean they’re in. The thin ones, well, they don’t bring such gleeful news.”

Some students, such as Diane Flores of San Fernando High, skipped over much of the agony by applying early. The 18-year-old senior got into her first-pick school, USC, and plans to attend in September.

“It was pretty nerve-racking,” Flores said. “When I was applying, I had a lot of confidence that I’d get in. But as soon as the weeks started passing by I was getting a little worried.”

But unlike Flores and other early birds, most of the San Fernando Valley’s Class of 1995 won’t find out what college they will attend until now. For many, April is Hell Month, and some students are spending at least part of this week’s spring break waiting by the mailbox.

Several San Fernando Valley high schools have special admissions programs with Cal State Northridge, which notified students in December. And University of California and California State University schools sent out their notices in mid-March. But the word from the Ivy League and other East Coast schools arrives about now. And tensions are high.

By Saturday, most, if not all students will know whether they’re in or out.

“This is really a stressful time for them because there’s this whole waiting game involved,” said Susan Bonhoff, a college counselor at North Hollywood High School.

Citywide, about 65% of Los Angeles Unified School District seniors said they planned to attend two- or four-year colleges after graduation, according to a 1993 district survey. But, by the time they are seniors, more than one-third of their ninth-grade classmates have already dropped out, district records show.

So city school students who are candidates for admission at the nation’s top universities have fought significant odds.

Birmingham High senior Arash Yaghoobian has been getting nauseated waiting for word from UCLA, his first choice. UCLA had rejected Yaghoobian because they had not received his SAT scores in time. But the honor student has appealed the decision, with help from his teachers.

Even though UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara have accepted him for the fall semester, Yaghoobian said he is still frustrated.

“I have been on pins and needles waiting to hear,” he said. “I’ve been so aggravated.”

He plans to attend Cal State Northridge if he is still not accepted at UCLA and transfer later.

Vladimir Landaverde, a senior at San Fernando High School, said he bit off a few fingernails before finding out which schools accepted him--he had applied to seven.

“It was hard, but when the first letter came in, and it was an acceptance, then I was able to breathe a little easier,” said Vladimir, 17.

The football-playing honor student has been accepted to four schools, including USC and MIT. He is on a waiting list for Harvard and is expecting letters from Princeton and Cornell.

“I think the kids who applied to a lot of big schools and didn’t get in, they took it hard, because it’s an ego thing and it’s a lot of questioning your ability and your talents,” Vladimir said.

The college admissions waiting game dates back decades. But for members of each graduating class, it seems like the first time anyone has ever applied to college, say high school college counselors.

“They think they reinvented stress,” Bonhoff said of the seniors who storm into her office, usually either ecstatic or tearful about their future.

Some of those feelings are, however, real. It is harder now for students to get into top schools.

Harvard University had its largest undergraduate applicant pool this year--18,000 students--but the school isn’t increasing increasing its freshman class size, said Karen Avery, senior admissions officer at Harvard.

This year, Harvard will mail out 2,100 acceptance letters, Avery said.

Bonhoff said the students should be worrying more about having to pay for a top school than whether or not they are accepted. The financial burden is generally divided up among savings, scholarships, loans and financial aid grants. At Harvard, tuition, room and board will cost $28,000 next year.

“A lot of these kids don’t know if they can afford to even go to these schools,” Bonhoff said.

But for many seniors, reality begins and ends with the weight of those envelopes.

Said Vladimir Landaverde: “The heavier it is, the more I like it.”