By ALEX LENNEBERG
The beginning of senior year brought out a lot of my emotions. I began to become excited for my future with more thoughts about college and my post-high school life, now less than a year away. Along with being excited, I began to become nervous and stressed because of the grueling task ahead of me: college applications.
The stress started to build when I realized how much work I had, and I know I’m not the only one. Jericho High School social worker Mr. Benjamin said, “Jericho students struggle with stress and anxiety normally, and during the application process that goes through the roof.” Every senior stresses over applications. First they stress over where to apply–whether it’s what colleges they think are reach, safety, or target. “Reaches” are schools that are difficult to get into, “safeties” are schools that should be a definite admission, and “targets” are schools whose admissions criteria mostly match with the applicant’s credentials. Next they stress about attending a big school vs. small, or whether to go away vs. commute, or just how they’re going to handle college and moving into the real world. This is a time when seniors like me realize that our sense of responsibility must increase, our level of maturity must improve, and most importantly, our independence must be proven.
In order to meet early action deadlines, the application process consumed me over a span of about two months. Every part of the application needed to be perfect. Every piece mattered and could be the difference between acceptance or rejection. Every section needed to be proofread a million times. So much time and energy went into every question. It felt so refreshing and satisfying when I finally submitted them.
Letters of recommendation are a major part of college applications and are a true character builder for students who are applying. Every student from Jericho has letters of recommendation from two eleventh grade teachers and another from their guidance counselor. Writing letters takes a lot of time out of a teacher’s busy schedule. Social studies teacher Ms. Bensen said she allocated a lot of time to writing letters of recommendation. “It really depends on the student, each one is different and has different characteristics. I would say, out of the 33 letters I wrote, there were 11 or 12 days I stayed after school until 6:00 and wrote letters,” she said. Ms. Bensen made it a point to say yes to every letter request she received due to the impact these letters have. This time of year is stressful for teachers as well as students.
The college application essay is the most important and most stressful part of the entire process. There is a 650 word limit, which may not sound like a lot, but it’s tough to fit everything that needs to be said within the limit. At one point, I was at 817 words and I was freaking out because I had no clue how to get it down. Eventually, I had to make difficult decisions on which paragraphs to take out, which sentences to condense, and what parts wouldn’t be included in the final version. If the essay isn’t started weeks in advance, it will never get to its optimal version because of the amount of revisions and drafts needed. It’s also not easy to choose a topic. There may be things that seem easy to write about, but the useful and usable content just isn’t there. There might not be enough impressive details or emotions to use about a topic that seems like it would be perfect, so it takes a while to figure out what’s going to work. This is really the only personal part of the application where I could illustrate my unique creativity, so I spent a lot of time attempting to perfect my essay. Thankfully, I’m happy with how it turned out. This was stressful for me, and I didn’t even have any supplements or additional short essays to write.
When I was accepted to the University at Buffalo, my top school, I was elated. It was a day I will never forget. A lot of weight has been lifted off my shoulders and my stress has decreased exponentially. My family is proud of me, my friends are proud of me, and most importantly, I’m proud of myself.
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