{"id":2692,"date":"2022-10-11T11:29:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T15:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=2692"},"modified":"2022-10-11T11:29:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T15:29:30","slug":"college-applications-seniors-submit-their-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/college-applications-seniors-submit-their-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"College Applications: Seniors Submit Their Futures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Claire Fagan, Features Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the school year progresses, college application deadlines loom on the horizon. As early as October 15th, some River Hill seniors will be pressing submit on their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college application process is a complicated one, with every school taking a slightly different approach. As test scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and essays pile up, everything can become overwhelming. Senior Isabel Marcus comments, \u201cFor the last week I\u2019ve just been sitting, staring at blank documents. When I think about all the stuff that I have to do, I start to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time management is critical to finish college applications\u2014this isn\u2019t something anyone can hurriedly fill out the night before the due date. Senior Brooke Fox mentions, \u201cI think I did myself a favor by working on it a lot in August before school started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who weren\u2019t quite so productive, this next month is crucial. Luckily, some seniors have lighter workloads than previous years. Many seniors have work release, so they don\u2019t have as many classes. Additionally, seniors who have already completed their science and social studies credits don\u2019t need to take such classes this year, which leaves more room for calmer electives. Senior Tyler Owen remarks, \u201cFor the classes and the teachers that I have, I just don\u2019t get homework.\u201d Isabel agrees, \u201cMy teachers are really chill, [and] they don\u2019t assign a lot of homework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other students do not have such luxuries. Taking advanced classes as a senior means some have to juggle homework and applications. Senior Preston Passamonti acknowledges, \u201cI\u2019m taking AP Chem and Precalc CC at the same time, which are two classes that go incredibly fast. It\u2019s not any fault of their own because they have to. I\u2019ve just got to keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even without time-consuming classes to balance, college applications are difficult. Many students especially struggle with the essays. They are the one opportunity for students to show their personality and stand out from every other submission. Brooke observes, \u201cI think I might be overstressing about that. Test scores and stuff, that\u2019s done, I can\u2019t change that anymore. [Essays are] the one thing I can change, so I\u2019m trying to make it the best it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some, these vital essays are formed from clear, manufactured strategies. Tyler explains, \u201cIf you say \u2018I need to figure out my topic this day, and by the end of this time chunk I need to have my first draft done, on this day or this day I\u2019m going to run it by someone else, and then on this day I\u2019ll edit it,\u2019 then it’s really just how many edited versions you want to go through.\u201d Breaking down a process into steps makes it easier and more approachable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For others, the essay process is unexpected; students write nothing for months, then express everything at once when inspiration sparks. This is true for Preston, who describes, \u201cI just cold-write all my essays and then I look over them and I\u2019m like \u2018That\u2019s kind of good.\u2019 I\u2019ve only had to rewrite half an essay once.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond essays, college applications are rigorous and complicated, sometimes unnecessarily so. Grace believes this is her biggest frustration with the process, elaborating, \u201cI paid College Board money and they had the decency to show me a blank screen. So I need to ask my counselor if my SAT scores went through.\u201d Grace later discovered that the website had glitched and not sent any colleges her SAT scores. The application system is so detailed that small, important pieces can slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some schools have different requirements and supplemental essays, increasing the difficulty of applications. Brooke states, \u201cI think a few specific schools make it a little trickier than it has to be. Like I know I was considering adding another school to my list yesterday, and I did a little research, realized it was a pain and said \u2018Okay, I\u2019m not doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isabel agrees that the process is complicated, questioning, \u201cWhy isn\u2019t it all in the same place? Why do I have to fill out two applications every single time? I wish it were easier. I have music school applications and they require different essays, and then you have to do it into the separate school form, and that\u2019s for every single music school. I\u2019m just kind of inconvenienced.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Elizabeth Fu desires simplicity and clarity in the college application process. Almost every college requires submissions in several websites, from different sources, with addendums that only confuse. She says, \u201cI would just like to be able to monitor all my progress in one place\u2026 I want to have a list of stuff I need to do in one place. I don\u2019t have that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every senior struggles through college applications, but school counselors are available to advise seniors on anything and everything as they begin the journey into college. As Preston says, this process is \u201cextensive, but that\u2019s kind of how it has to be.\u201d To all seniors reading, you will get through this difficulty and figure out your future in the process. You got this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Claire Fagan, Features Editor As the school year progresses, college application deadlines loom on the horizon. As early as October 15th, some River Hill seniors will be pressing submit on their future. The college application process is a complicated one, with every school taking a slightly different approach. As test scores, transcripts, letters of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/unnamed.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692\/revisions\/2697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}