College Applications Season Making Seniors Go Insane

College+Applications+Season+Making+Seniors+Go+Insane

Kasia Lipa, Staff Reporter

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- Seniors in Millennium Brooklyn High School have a lot on their plates because it’s their last year to spend time with their close friends but most importantly to focus on applying to college. The deadlines for this admissions process range from November to February with endless requirements and a lot of money taken from wallets. It is necessary to go to college, especially in today’s world, because it helps get one ready for his or her most desired career. However, it’s quite tiring to focus on applying to dream colleges when there are other essential things to worry about such as classes and extracurricular activities.

Barbara Chrobak, newly elected senior president, has a lot on her mind. She made the “unsmart decision” of taking three AP Courses because she can’t “push stuff to the side.” Barbara also participates in extracurricular activities including National Honor Society, Student Government, and Dance Club.

Li Dong, another senior student who “has a lot of responsibilities such as SAT Prep and internships” said that the college process has been so far stressful and difficult but most importantly “a vulnerable process.”“[It’s a] vulnerable process because there’s so much personal information that I never really gave out before but now it’s just all at once”.

The college admissions process is unlike the application for middle school or high school, where it’s just required to list schools based on preference. For college, the application includes financial aid forms, multiple scholarships, personal statements and recommendation letters. The multiple requirements allow the Admissions Office from each college to not only examine the grades and talents of a student but who they really are among other individuals.

However it’s nearly impossible for seniors to be able to just focus on the college application. Dong said that with so much going on in her life, she feels as though the college application is “secondary” with the primary focus actually being classes and other activities. She also said that because the college process is more than “writing essays, teachers should hand out less homework” especially since she rarely comes home to relax.

“School, homework, extracurricular activities, sleep, repeat—that’s what it can be for some of these students,” says Noelle Leonard, PhD, a senior research scientist at the New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN). New York University (NYU) is one of the best known colleges in the world because of its large global connections which includes study abroad programs in six out of the seven continents in the world.

But besides the continuous cycle that Leonard mentioned, another factor that plays into the application stress is the norm that success will be higher if students apply to Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale. Families would love to brag to their friends that their child went to a prestigious school and will soon work for a famous company. It’s hard to deal with that pressure because it’s not easy to go against thousands of students from across the globe. It’s hard and stressful during college applications seasons because it’s where students really don’t want to let their parents down.

When college application season comes there will always be stress, whether it’s still trying to get an outstanding grade on the SAT or ACT or writing the additional essay prompts. Chrobak advised upcoming seniors to especially take advantage of any resources when it comes to the essays as “it gives a third or a different perspective especially if it’s someone who really knows you.” She also advised to “not be afraid to ask help from the teachers or from any sources around you” to ensure strong college applications.