The senior year of high school is wrongfully assumed to be the easiest because all of the hard classes are out of the way. But the added stress of college applications and school-based sleep deprivation can make the year get overwhelming very quickly. Here are 11 things seniors think while preparing for the next phase of their lives.

1. Why me?

When you first start looking at colleges, the sheer number of options is enough to send anyone sobbing into their pillow. It seems like there’s so much to get done, with research, visits, scholarship applications... Where does all the time go?

2. No, I don’t know where I want to go yet.

It seems as though every relative in existence brings up college to me in conversation. While I appreciate their interest, it gets frustrating really quickly, especially because it reminds you about how many decisions you still have to make in how little time. Then you start referring to “Stressed Out” by twenty one pilots as your theme song.

3. Ugh, so many essays.

Every scholarship and application has every type of personal essay known to man. By the time you’re done, you can tell a heart-wrenching story about how you overcame adversity when you were 11 and a thriller about how the leadership positions you’ve attained have helped you in your day-to-day life.

4. How many teacher recs?

At various college information sessions, the admissions guide loves to tell stories about the person who submitted 36 teacher recommendations. Everyone laughs, and it serves as a nice refresher to engage the student into important information. But props to the student who got 36 people to write something about them because teachers are some of the busiest people on the Earth. Asking for two to three recommendations feels like a thousand, especially on top of schoolwork and the usual hustle and bustle of the fall semester.

5. The application fee is how much?

You feel your wallet crying just a little bit more as you add another school to your Common Application list. An $85 fee here, a $35 toll there--it definitely adds up. Especially with minimum wage pay, it makes you wonder how you’re going to pay tuition once you get in. But it’ll all work out, right? Right?

6. Wait, this is actually happening.

You’re actually going to go college, where you’ll be by yourself and live with someone who you kind of know (but not really,) and you’re going to leave your family to get a better education and future for yourself. It’s exciting to think of being independent and responsible for yourself, but it’s also a little daunting to think that everything as you know it is going to change. But it’ll be fun. Nothing can be worse than high school (except middle school,) and you’ve already gotten that out of the way.

7. I’m going to get rejected from every college.

As you fill out the application, your confidence slowly dwindles as you think about all of the kids who have already solved world hunger and created antidotes at 13. You think about the classmate who got a 36 on the ACT without studying and the girl who is on the Junior Olympics team for ice skating. Every bad possible result comes to mind and you can’t help but feel that you’ll end up nowhere.

8. I can make it into an 8% acceptance rate school, right? Right?

Eight percent isn’t that low, I mean that number was before I applied, right? I’ll totally make it!

9. Am I unique enough to get accepted?

“Pinterest told me to be myself because everyone else was taken.”

10. At the end of the day, this stress is worth it to get into the college of my dreams.

At the end of it all, you’ll get into the college you were meant to attend, and you will be able to grow as a person and find out what you want to do with your life. I know that it seems as if there’s no end to the drama and additional pressure of making your first big choice as an adult, but you’ll be so proud at the end. Look at all that you’ve achieved!