The one thing that every senior looks forward to– college. Whether close, far, Ivy League, or community college, a large majority of seniors are ready to leave high school and enter a new environment. However, applying and getting into college is not only a difficult decision but a difficult process as well. As a high-achieving student, I aimed high. I applied to multiple colleges and universities, 12 in total, across the nation, ranging from state colleges to universities in the Ivy League.

The college application process begins before the school year even starts. The Common Application, an application that allows students to apply to multiple undergraduate colleges in one place, opened on Aug. 1, 2023. This means that students have the ability to view what each college they hope to apply to requires and the prompts for the multiple supplemental essays that would need to be written. At this time, I started drafting my personal essay. This essay centers around “what you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores” (Common Application). The personal essay holds great importance, as it’s one of the only opportunities students have to show admissions counselors you– not your academic abilities, but you. To take full advantage of this chance, you must start writing early to give yourself time to review, edit, and fix anything.

Afterward, I started researching the colleges I desired to attend to make a final choice on   applying for early or regular admission. Early action allows you to hear back from colleges earlier, although the due date for your application is earlier. However, depending on your academic standpoint and your character, you might want to or not want to apply early action. I decided on applying early to one university, as the other schools I applied to were much more competitive. CLARIFY.

Then comes the writing. Although not all, most colleges, especially high-ranked schools, required one or more supplemental essays. These are questions or prompts provided by certain schools and vary across the board. I got questions such as “List the titles of the books, essays, poetry, short stories or plays you read outside of academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school” from Columbia, “You are teaching a new Yale course. What’s it called?” from Yale, and “Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?” from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. I had a total of 38 essays to write, excluding my personal statement. This took time. Throughout the first semester of senior year, my nights were long, consisting of writing and reviewing previously written paragraphs. 

No matter the outcome, it’s important to remember that your college commitment decision doesn’t reflect who you are as a person. Whether you end up at the college of your dreams or not, you will end up right where you need to be and it’s crucial to understand that. If you worked incredibly hard in high school and didn’t get into a high-ranked college, it’s okay– your efforts did not go to waste. It created a hard-working student that could achieve anything they set their mind to. 

Approaching College

The one thing that every senior looks forward to– college. Whether close, far, Ivy League, or community college, a large majority of seniors are ready to leave high school and enter a new environment. However, applying and getting into college is not only a difficult decision but a difficult process as well. The process for me began before the school year even started. The Common Application, an application that allows students to apply to multiple undergraduate colleges in one place, opened on Aug. 1, 2023. This means that I had the ability to view what each college I hoped to apply to requires and the prompts for the multiple supplemental essays that would need to be written. 

At this time, I started drafting my personal essay. This essay centers around “what you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores” (Common Application). The personal essay holds great importance, as it’s one of the only opportunities students have to show admissions counselors you– not your academic abilities, but you. To take full advantage of this chance, you must start writing early to give yourself time to review, edit, and fix anything.

As a high-achieving student, I aimed high. I applied to multiple colleges and universities, 12 in total, across the nation, ranging from state colleges to universities in the Ivy League.