[Source: Government Technology]
To many, the month of November signifies the nearing of Thanksgiving, the start of winter, and the slow close of another year. However, for the population of high school seniors, the eleventh month indicates something more somber: College Applications.
Seniors who plan to attend a college or university have begun making their Common Application, Coalition Application, and Universal College Application accounts and writing their personal statements. Regardless to say, it is a very stressful time for these individuals, myself included. There is an immense pressure to market oneself as an outstanding candidate and most colleges have very competitive acceptance standards.
Some of these students may have decided to apply to schools as Early Action or Early Decision and have already submitted some applications by November 1. The UC applications have also opened up at the beginning of this month and will close on the 30th. The remainder of schools typically accept Regular Decision applications on January 1.
[Source: Fastweb]
Valencia High School senior, Jenny Elliott shared a few words of advice to future applicants with JSR. “It’s never too early to start your college applications,” she says. “The summer going into senior year is a really good time to start figuring out what schools you’re most likely going to apply to as well as your major, if you’re not going in undecided. It’s also really important to have a balanced college list of reach, match, and safety schools.”
Personally as a senior, I advise that future seniors really take their time with the decisions they make. Higher education is no small aspect of anyone’s life. Look at multiple different sources when doing college research and looking at different majors. At the same time however, don’t be too stressed about it. Most applicants are only seventeen or eighteen years old. No one really knows how things will turn out and people change in so many different ways. Transferring to different schools and changing majors are perfectly viable options.
Evan Kim, Grade 12
Valencia High School
