Class of 2017 ushers in college application season

It was the best of times, It was the worst of times.

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Credit: Kendall Bulleit/AchonaOnline

Senior Hope Rossi uses the word “stressed” when college applications are mentioned.

As students begin to get back into the swing of things in the classroom, the Senior Class is also faced with the task of completing college applications. It is a time of many tears and hard work as hours upon hours are put into perfecting these profiles. College application season is upon us, and the Academy Class of 2017 is ready and prepared.

Senior Tess Jakubiec explains that “Mrs. Keegan, our college counselor, gave the entire class a schedule to follow and get our applications in early, so we aren’t stressing last minute. I think it has really pushed our whole class to be on top of everything and organized.”

With this specific schedule, many of these girls have gotten a considerable amount of their work done. To assist with the essays, each AP Literature class is also required to turn in a college essay to be edited and graded by the teacher, making sure everyone has a strong writing piece to submit.

Senior Lexie Diez appreciates this writing assignment because “it caused me to finish one essay already that I can use for most of my schools and completely finish one of my applications.”

The two most commonly used application websites, Commonapp and Coalition, opened the first week of August and many students got to working on them right away. These universal applications that can be used for more than one school have two main parts to them: one goes to all schools that includes basic information about the applicant and a main essay, and the other part is specific to each school, choosing a possible major and sometimes including supplemental essays depending on the school.

According to senior Alessandra Nies, she “has almost filling out the generic information on both the commonapp and coalition but still have the supplemental essays to write.”

One student in the senior class has gone above and beyond in her applications, already finishing and being accepted to her first choice. Senior Meredith Butler applied to University of Kansas earlier this month and has been accepted into the school. She used the end of her summer to completely focus on the applications she has awaiting her, and the hard work has surely paid off.

Butler advises all the girls who are waiting last minute to apply to “start applying now because hitting that submission button honestly makes this huge weight feel lifted off your back. It’s so much easier to have college applications crossed off the list.”

After college application season is over, the time of waiting for the decision enters, which may be just as painful but in the end, both are completely worth it.