If you’ve spent the past few months refreshing your college portals more often than your social media feed, you’re not alone. For seniors everywhere, fall isn’t just about football games and pumpkin spice, it’s the season of applications, essays, and stress
The college application process sounds manageable: fill out some forms, write a reflective essay about your life, click submit. But anyone who has actually opened the Common Application knows it can take hours of your life in a single sitting. Between filling out endless sections about activities, coursework, family information, and those supplemental questions that appear only after adding a school, the Common App feels less like an app and more like a part-time job.
For many, that’s only half the story. We juggle STARS submissions, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and portals. But the real challenge? The college essay. Writing about yourself in a way that is both meaningful and “unique” is exhausting. Some students spend weeks, or months, rewriting the same paragraph, wondering what admissions officers will think. The pressure to write your entire life in 650 words or fewer feels impossible.
All of this would still be overwhelming even not with school. But of course, senior year doesn’t pause for the application season. We’re still doing nightly homework, taking tests, managing clubs and sports, and showing up to class. So yes, we are stressed.
As deadlines approach, remember that it’s okay to take a breath. It’s okay if your essay isn’t perfect on the first draft. It’s okay to ask for help. And it’s okay to admit that this is hard, because it is.
And when that final “submitted” confirmation pops up, it’ll all feel a little more worth it.
