WOODBURY — When entering senior year, students expect the fun and excitement they believe comes along with being in their last year of high school, but it is just the opposite.
“Initially, I thought senior year was going to be super relaxing because I have a ton of study halls,” Nonnewaug senior Hannah Searles said, “but now all my thinking revolves around college and my future.”
Around this time every year, seniors are under a lot of pressure to submit their college applications before the deadline — whether stressing about narrowing down their top five college choices, working towards good grades, or perfecting their essays, the work never seems to stop.
“Students usually become overwhelmed with the process,” Nonnewaug College and Career Resource Center counselor Kathy Green said. “My best advice is to chunk the work involved. Create a calendar mapping out the weeks ’til your deadlines and identify what you will get done each week. This will help students manage their work and stress.”
Green has been through the process in hundreds of different ways between different students and their personal paths they see themselves enduring. One of the harder concepts she tries to teach seniors is that tens of thousands of people from everywhere apply to the same exact place.
“What I try to remind seniors when they are completing their applications is that the applicant pool is much larger than just their peers at NHS, and that college admissions can be very competitive these days,” Green said.
Many students have found themselves divulged in the workload and stress that comes along with adhering to Green’s reminder, and trying to create an application that sticks out from all the rest. Nonnewaug senior Megan Keating has been taking action in starting the first step of this process.
“It’s certainly hard trying to pick just one thing to focus on,” Keating said. “But I knew that if I wanted to go to a good college I would have to have good grades and so I poured all my effort into my academics. I also know that colleges search for not just super involved students, but the students who are unique and they know if they were on campus they would be a benefit to the college. And so even just in my short time of senior year, before applying my goal is to become well rounded but also down to earth so that admissions officers are happy to accept me.”
Although college applications take their toll on seniors every year, there are also positive outcomes of the entire process.
“I enjoyed seeing myself interacting with different colleges that I believed would be a good fit for me,” Nonnewaug alumnus Diego Razo said. “The process was exciting and interesting as I saw not only myself expand in different ways but the life that would soon be in the near future for me.”
Being a freshman at Marist, Razo has already been through the tedious process of applying to a college, and offers advice on how he managed to seem unique among all the other applicants.
“To become a unique applicant to certain schools, I would apply early and do early action to show that I’m interested in their school,” Razo said. “I would always make sure to do a good amount of research on them to show that I have taken time to learn about the programs they offer and how I can be effective for not only their school but as a potential student as well.”
While most students have their dream college where they envision themselves in their future, Razo thinks it’s best to apply to as many as you can, creating a wide variety of paths for the future.
“Take your time when applying but start early and make sure to visit as many as you can [colleges],” Razo said. “That’s something I wish I did, but also so you can complete your application before the deadline and become a strong applicant to the admissions officers. This will all help make your decision become easier to make when the time comes.”
