by Caleb Rogart
For many high school seniors at Point Loma and across the country, college application season is in full swing. Oftentimes, seniors find themselves stressed over the intense application process on top of their already busy lives. Whether the stress stems from the fear of having to talk with a teacher for a letter of recommendation, or from writing a seemingly countless number of essays, stress and fear are not only common, but understandable for applicants. With that being said, there are ways to avoid some of this stress and to come out the other side of the dark tunnel which is a senior’s college application process.
First and foremost, there is obviously life outside of college applications, a very busy life. Whether this may be having a job, being a part of a sports team, taking care of family, having school work, whatever it may be, there are countless responsibilities that the average college applicant has. To best deal with the stressors in life, an applicant can flip two mental switches in their head. The first of which comes with planning out a weekly calendar. This may seem tedious and useless to some, but having a calendar allows applicants to organize everything in a timely manner. This means sorting which time should be assigned for, as an example, watching a Poli Sci lecture and which time should be dedicated to writing college essays. Planning out a schedule helps to avoid feelings of dread that come with having no idea when to work on the mountain of work the average college applicant has to complete. Even just setting aside one hour a night to work on college applications gives applicants ample time to work and finish their applications in no time.
The second switch, and perhaps the most important one, is acknowledging that college applications will not be the end for seniors. It is true that when seniors write their applications, life seems to be ending and almost everything brings more and more stress. With that being said, college applications take only a few months to complete. Afterwards, feelings of pride and relief rush in and quickly replace the feelings of stress and worry that seemed to previously be a permanent resident of an applicant’s brain. For a time, life will be stressful, there is no denying that. However, the result of that short period of time results in not only positive emotions, but acceptances into applicants’ future universities. It is at these universities where applicants will create new friendships, find new hobbies, and above all, live their lives to the fullest extent. With that reality being as soon as less than a year away, the monster which is college applications may not seem so scary after all.