Content in partnership with Here and Now
As College Application Deadlines Approach, High School Seniors Stress
12.20.17
(Photo Courtesy of UBC Learning Commons via Flickr)
With college application deadlines coming up, it’s a stressful time for many college seniors. Youth Radio talked to three graduating seniors, Arnav Gupta, Nina Roehl, and Sierra Fang-Horvath, about their mad sprint to the finish line.
Arnav Gupta: The application process has been pretty stressful so far and has definitely created a lot of points of contention around my family as well. Nina Roehl: Procrastination was definitely an issue for me because now it's due in a week and I'm definitely not even close to being done. Sierra Fang-Horvath: So for me, I'm having to juggle the writing, but there's also getting letters of rec, applying for financial aid. There's just a ton of stuff and I keep worrying that I'm going to miss something. NR: And it’s just really stressful with essays cause you have to write about yourself and I find that it’s really hard sometimes. It’s just when I have to do it to apply for college, I suddenly go back and I’m like ‘I don’t know who I am’. AG: I feel like teachers have not been the kindest in terms of assigning us less work. It's almost like I'm doing double the amount of work that I would do in any other year. And there's actually a lot of consequences. So you have to be really, really careful. SFH: I've got a handy-dandy Google spreadsheet. I have all of the schools I'm applying to, then all their separate components. So I have the main common app essay and I've got each school supplemental essays, my scores, financial aid, have I selected my major? And I have all the things I haven't done and red. And then once I've done it I go through and put it in green. And needless to say, it's mostly red. AG: I would get frustrated with my parents for trying to push me too much or micromanage the things that I was doing -- not really realizing that they just want the best for me. SFH: My parents definitely have a facade of calmness and acceptance. They're always like, "Sierra, we'll love you no matter where you get in. We want to sponsor your dream." But I know. They don't fool me. They have expectations.
Arnav Gupta: The application process has been pretty stressful so far and has definitely created a lot of points of contention around my family as well. Nina Roehl: Procrastination was definitely an issue for me because now it's due in a week and I'm definitely not even close to being done. Sierra Fang-Horvath: So for me, I'm having to juggle the writing, but there's also getting letters of rec, applying for financial aid. There's just a ton of stuff and I keep worrying that I'm going to miss something. NR: And it’s just really stressful with essays cause you have to write about yourself and I find that it’s really hard sometimes. It’s just when I have to do it to apply for college, I suddenly go back and I’m like ‘I don’t know who I am’. AG: I feel like teachers have not been the kindest in terms of assigning us less work. It's almost like I'm doing double the amount of work that I would do in any other year. And there's actually a lot of consequences. So you have to be really, really careful. SFH: I've got a handy-dandy Google spreadsheet. I have all of the schools I'm applying to, then all their separate components. So I have the main common app essay and I've got each school supplemental essays, my scores, financial aid, have I selected my major? And I have all the things I haven't done and red. And then once I've done it I go through and put it in green. And needless to say, it's mostly red. AG: I would get frustrated with my parents for trying to push me too much or micromanage the things that I was doing -- not really realizing that they just want the best for me. SFH: My parents definitely have a facade of calmness and acceptance. They're always like, "Sierra, we'll love you no matter where you get in. We want to sponsor your dream." But I know. They don't fool me. They have expectations.
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