By Rebecca Do
Halloween is over, but it’s just now getting scary for seniors out there.
College season is rapidly approaching, and it’s time for us to cram four years of blood, sweat and tears (and for most of us, many, many volunteer hours) onto a piece of paper that’ll be looked at by a group of five to 10 people. Exciting!
Though it may seem daunting, there are some things you can due to curb that college-application stress.
- Get your transcripts and financial aid documents out of the way
One of the most important aspects that a student needs to showcase to prospective colleges — their grades. This gets you past the start line, but your extracurriculars, essays and other commitments will get you to the finish. Sending in your transcript through Parchment and making sure those FAFSA documents are correct early on will make sure your essential information is complete! Getting this out of the way first will reduce stress before the essays and extracurricular portion comes in.
- Write those essays
Whether it’s the University of California system’s Personal Insight Question (PIQ)) or a Common Application supplemental essay, your essays are what will make you stand out from all the others. Your grades will get you across the threshold, but how you express yourself on paper (or in this case – through a textbox) is going to show those people who you really are.
So, how are you going to write an essay? Are you going to showcase more of your creative side? Or are you going to be nuanced and straightforward? It’s your choice! And keep in mind that neither of these are particularly bad choices, either. Just make sure that these essays show your true, authentic self.
- Don’t beat yourself up
You’ve done the best you can these past four years. Honestly (this will either put your mind at ease or freak you out), there’s nothing you can do about it now. Embrace your extracurriculars! Embrace volleyball and the National Honor Society and your 100+ volunteer hours! Even if you don’t have all that, embrace the things you did creatively in your free time, your part-time job, or the time you spent taking care of your family.
There is so much pressure for students to be of national or international acclaim, but what not enough people stress enough is that we’re just kids. Hardly meeting the end of our teens, we are put under immense pressure to match up to the best in the nation. Remember that the general population is not that one kid who got into Harvard with 3,000 volunteer hours, or that Stanford graduate who began cancer research at 12. We’re still so young with so much of our life left to live, and you have so long decide what you truly want to pursue. This isn’t going to make or break the next 10, 30 or even 50 years.
- Compare and despair!
Not all college applications are created equal; there is always going to be someone better than you in all facets of your application. But that’s okay! Apples and oranges, or whatever they say.
In all seriousness, you shouldn’t be comparing yourself to those people who post their application statistics on YouTube or to this guy from Fountain Valley who got into Harvard 20 years ago. Times change, and people only share what they want to share! So don’t be scared that your statistics don’t match up to others. Again, it’s how you express yourself in those essays that distinguish you from the others. Admissions are not black and white; they’re holistic and one aspect won’t dictate if you get in or not.
You got this, Barons; I believe in you!
