College, college, college. It seems to be all we ever hear about, from middle school until senior year. Every single thing we do is for the sole purpose of getting into college. Seniors know this stress better than anyone. Throughout highschool, students focus on keeping their GPA and class rank up, joining extracurricular activities, and discovering their passions and their talents. Once in your final year, all those factors are added up and the stressful college craze begins. 

The college hunt has many factors: finding which ones you’re actually interested in, touring, admissions essays, applying for scholarships, getting teacher recommendation letters, and more. For some it may get to be simply overwhelming. Senior Sarah Reynolds, accepted to the University of Georgia, noted that supplemental essays were the most stressful part of the process. “They can be daunting because it feels like it counts for so much in the deciding process,” she said. “I realized that if you get it done earlier it makes it a lot easier to get the rest of the application done.”

Another big factor to consider is the addition of school work. These teens are in fact still in highschool, balancing homework, sports, work, family, and now, applications. Sometimes it seems teenagers are the busiest of all. Senior Margaux Wade spent lots of time on her applications before being accepted into Tufts University. “All of my work for college applications definitely helped me with my time management,“ she said.

Although many of our Warriors are still in the middle of this stressful season, some have already been accepted and committed to their future schools. The work is done, the near future has been decided, but now a bad case of senioritis is approaching. “Being accepted to college definitely made me not want to work on normal school work,” said Reynolds, “But because I’m in IB classes I have to keep up with work in order to get the credit.”

Being accepted into the place most students will spend the next four years of their life (or more) makes everything feel very real. The future is no longer years away, at this point it is mere months. For some, however, this realization makes them value the present that much more. “I’ve always wanted to go to UGA and now that the plan is definitive, I’m even more excited for the years to come,” Reynolds said. “But I only have a couple of months left with my friends before I go and I want to spend time with them.” 

These teens have worked hard for these acceptances for their whole high school career and they have finally achieved their goals. Congratulations seniors!

Seniors Are Invested in Being Accepted: The End of the College Craze