It is a time of great importance as Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School juniors and seniors are at different stages in the college application process. Coinciding with that is the stress that comes with writing the dreaded college essay.

However, there is definitely a lot of fear about applications that aren’t always warranted. 

Once you complete all of your test-taking and requesting your recommendation letters, the application itself isn’t too bad. It’s certainly a lot of repetitive work, as you have to fill in all sorts of information for multiple colleges. As long as you allocate time and don’t try to cram it in before the deadline, there’s no need to stress.

“It has been challenging with time management with school work on the side and how there is so much work needed to be done when it comes to filling out all of the necessary information for each college, especially when applying to at least 10 colleges,” senior Justin Tran said.

Something that is important towards applications but shouldn’t be fretted over are the teacher recommendation letters. Some might feel awkward about asking for them, but as long as you’ve built good relationships with certain teachers or coaches over the years, you have nothing to fear. 

The glaring worry that many students have during applications is the thought of all of the college essays that will need to be written and excessively peer-reviewed. All of them need to be perfected so that they’re ready to go.

“Everything you type out counts and has to be precise in the message you want to send to your college,” senior John Cristoball said. “I spent a lot of time trying to change the language to be more impactful and precise before submitting my first applications.”

To combat these fears, it’s important to keep in mind that a majority of colleges use the Common Application program that is designed to help students. With it, you’re able to take a single essay and send it to multiple colleges. Most of your colleges will probably utilize this, reducing the amount that you have to write overall.

“Juniors will work on the main college essay at the end of junior year English,” SPFHS guidance counselor Amanda Moser said. “Use this time in your English class very wisely.”

Now, up to this point I have omitted supplemental essays and other types of writing that certain colleges may require of you. However, if there is one thing I want to be taken away from this article, it is this: you decide the list of colleges you apply to. You decide how many different questions and writing prompts you have to deal with, so don’t drive yourself crazy with too much work. 

You have the choice which path you take during applications so manage your workload well and everything will turn out fine.

Photo courtesy of Orin Zebest / Creative Commons / via Flickr