Admission season causes stress for HC seniors

Senior year is stressful. It is the last school year before many enter adulthood and go off to college, to technical school, or to the work force. Deciding what you want to be, and where you want to go is a time-consuming question, yet this combines with admission season, where final decisions are made.

Many seniors get information from a myriad of different colleges in a ton of different ways. From e-mails to college visits, learning about all of the available options has never been easier.

“I have gotten a bunch of different letters in the mail, or emails,” HC Senior Tori White said. “It made my decision easier.”

All of the information makes it clear that each college has its own advantages and disadvantages. This fact can either make the decision easier or harder depending on what one wants from their chosen college.

“The thing with college admissions is that colleges are all different,” HC Counselor April Cain said. “Their requirements are different.”

Since this is the case, stress is inescapable until one has made a decision. Planning ahead and getting a grasp of what one wants from a school is a good start. Staying organized and on top of it is the way to succeed during this stressful time.

“You have to start early, keep track of things, be organized about your dates and deadlines, and what colleges need to avoid stress,” Cain said. “You can’t avoid it completely. It’s stressful even if you plan ahead.”

Sometimes persevering through admission season can be hard. Since there are so many options for what to do after high school, it can be difficult narrowing them down.

“I have procrastinated,” HC Senior Jill Carpenter said, “and I have applied to only one school, because I don’t know where I want to go.”

The stress of admission season is not just a constant for seniors, but it is present for counselors as well. Both groups of individuals are worried about where they end up after all is said and done.

“I am in charge of about 380 students,” Cain said. “and… I usually have about 90 to 100 that are seniors. My goal for them is that each of them find whatever it is that they want in life.”

This is an exciting time for many and once that decision is made the stress is alleviated. Finding your perfect school after all that hard work is a very rewarding feeling.

“The major I wanted to go into only has a few schools,” White said. “It was very stressful at first, but whenever I committed to Midway it made it a lot easier.”

Overall, seniors have a lot on their plates at this time of year regarding admissions. Deadlines to meet, applications to fill out, and research to do. Applying to college is the first big step in deciding their future which requires plenty of thought and action before getting a final answer. Even so, there are ways to keep calm and make the journey just a little easier.