By: Alec Eskin

This is a very stressful time for seniors as they have to apply to colleges, keep up with their grades, and actually decide what college they want to go to. The applications themselves are very time consuming as you have to write your common application essay, the sub essays for each school, the other information that goes along with it, and the FAFSA form as well. Arguably, the busiest time for any high school student is during the first half of the year during senior year. There is also mental aspect of this as there is a lot of pressure on student which could lead to an increase of anxiety. I will go through my journey and hopefully this will make you feel a little better and less stressed about your college applications.

Deciding what colleges you are going to apply to is the hardest part. You need to look up colleges with your interested majors, their academics, their extracurriculars, and how well you fit into the social life there. For example, I did not want to join greek life, so I looked at colleges where students could have a social life outside of it. For academics, you need to look at where each school is ranked nationally and how easy it is to make relationships and to get help from the professors at each school. A good tell if a school has these qualities is if the student to teacher ratio is low as well as looking at student reviews. With extracurriculars, each college has pretty much every one you can think of. However, the difference is how much they do within those clubs and their reputations around the United States. With the majors, you want to make sure that they have the one you are interested in. If they do not have it, you are going to be forced to take liberal arts classes and or classes in a major you may not want.

This process may feel like that’s taking forever, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The final piece of advice I have is live in the present, enjoy the remaining amount of time you have in high school, and have fun with your friends. Submitting your college applications can be a lot of work (especially if you are doing early decision), but in the end, remember that it will all be worth it.