College is supposed to be the best four years of your life: but first, you have to get in. If you’re currently a high school senior or already graduated, you know first hand how dreadful applying to college really is. Here are some trends I’ve noticed about the college application process from my own experience and others:
1. Procrastinating becomes your job.
“I’ll start tomorrow” becomes your motto and sooner or later, your peers are already getting accepted to schools meanwhile you haven't even started your filling out your applications.
2. Wait, this costs money?
Yes, applying to college costs money which is something we’ve all had to painfully learn. Not only do college apps wear you out mentally, but they also clean you out.
3. You drag it out for as long as possible.
Once you finally start filling out the applications, you realize how many parts there are to it. This leads to the tempting “one section a day” mindset because now you feel slightly productive since you actually started.
4. You regret not starting your essay during the summer.
Maybe it’s just my school, but I had no clue that we would be submitting our college essays for a grade in the beginning of the year. If you hadn't already started, now you get to rush on your essay to turn it in and for your applications all at once. Great.
5. The process as a whole makes you hate college simply because of its application.
Before you started your apps, college seemed exciting and like something to look forward to. Now, thinking about college makes you cringe. It puts a damper on what should be a thrilling experience and instead makes you dread it.
6. Being clueless about the process.
This is especially true for those who are the first of their siblings (if they even have any) to apply to college. It’s like they’re going in blind. But hey, at least there’s probably a “college & career counselor” offered at your school to help you! If they have time between working with the other 2,000 kids in your school, that is.
7. Realizing there’s more than one supplement.
Finally finishing your college essay but realizing that the school you’re applying to has separate writing supplements. I didn’t even know schools could do that on the Common App.
8. Battling between prioritizing your actual homework versus your college apps.
On top of the hours of homework you get from school, you also have to work on applications and get them in promptly. Which is more important? Your grades, which need to be good in order to get into college, or applying, which is also necessary to get into college? Either way you’re swamped; The choice is yours.
9. You get your essay revised a thousand times but you’re still not confident enough to hit the “submit” button.
No matter how many times and how many people you get to review your essay, you still can’t muster up the courage to actually submit it, even if the rest of your application is finished. You always feel like it can be better, but can it really?
10. Deciding a major.
I still don’t understand how, at 17 years old, we are expected to decide on a major and basically the career that we want to do for the rest of your life. It’s overwhelming, but also exciting because for the first time you get a small glimpse into what the future could possibly look like.
11. Even after applying, you still have to wait months to find out.
Finally finishing your applications but realizing that you still have to wait until December to February to find out whether or not you were accepted. In the meantime, you get to wait around anxiously to receive those “special letters” in the mail. May the odds be ever in your favor.
