Applying to College?

Jake Gerenraich, Overworked Intern

It’s October and, as seniors, the first college deadlines are nearing! With early decision and early action November 1st deadlines, students are in a frenzy to write essays, meet with Ms. Pasulka, and request recommendation letters. Some seniors walk around wearing their submitted application status like a badge of honor, whereas others haven’t even created a Common Application account. Where is the median student? Is one month enough time for students to complete their applications? What should you do to ensure you finish applying on time?

Applying to college is a slow, time-consuming process for which one has to dedicate a significant amount of their schedule and energy. With such a competitive applicant pool, tools like Early Action and Early Decision allow students to not only hear back from their top choices sooner, but increase their odds of getting into the institution and potentially receiving financial aid and scholarships. At top schools like MIT, Princeton, and Stanford, decisions like this can make a difference. Quinn Greven ‘19 remarked, “I am applying to as many of my listed schools as possible early action. Not only do I get a better chance of getting into my schools, but I won’t have to apply to my regular decision schools if I find out before the January first deadline.” The ultimatum stands; applying to more schools Early Action may help the chances of getting into colleges, but that requires cramming more work into a small window of time. Jake Davidson ‘19 said, “I have only gotten a few supplemental essays done for my early applications. I am a little nervous, because I feel like the deadline will creep up on me, but I think a month is more than enough time, as long as you just stay disciplined.” When considering school and extracurriculars, a month is not quite as long as it seems. Days pass where you are too busy to work on applications, until the deadline is right around the corner. Discipline is key to completing the application process. Jonathan Perez ‘19 said, “I have gotten very little done so far for colleges, but I’m not too stressed. The key is to look at the amount of time that you have, the amount of work you have for each application, and make a reasonable schedule with deadlines for each essay. Try to make sure you do your work for the deadline, and stay on top of that schedule.” With a nice, organized schedule, completing the application is remarkably less stressful. And no need to fret about current progress, as it appears that a reasonable amount of others have just as much work ahead of them, if not more. Work hard, rise and grind, and go Dolphins!

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Applying to college is a draining, time-consuming process.