In the fall of every senior’s year, students face one of the most tumultuous times of their educational lives: applying to college. A strenuous position for anyone, the weight of school coursework, extracurricular activities, and sports creates a heavily booked schedule, those who are pursuing the highest level of schooling. To better understand the process these seniors endure during this time, I interviewed several students at Ossining High School about their experiences through a myriad of different facets.
What colleges are you applying to?
Austin Pressman: I really like Binghamton because it’s close, pretty cheap, and it has a really good school for business there.
Robert Kang: I’m working on applying to Princeton.
What do you want to major in in college?
Robert: I want to major in mathematics.
Austin: I want to major in business.
Have you been able to balance your work life with your social life?
Austin: I’ve been able to manage having a good social life, but the weight of my classes is definitely getting to me.
Robert: It’s a lot. Science research and sports, on top of my college apps… it’s just a lot to get done.
Tyrzah Mkandawire: No. Some people are able to do that, but personally, I don’t have time for that. It’s really hard to try and balance all the different types of work you have to do, because it’s not like school stops, especially when you have advanced classes. It’s kind of the same workload as junior year, and now you’re adding on top of that science research, and also college apps, and it’s all happening at once.
How far into the application process are you?
Austin: I’m still finalizing the criteria for my Common App. I’m doing Naviance, and I still haven’t done my college essay yet. I’m planning to write about the callouses on my hands from playing guitar and rock-climbing, because they represent resilience.
Robert: I’ve already applied to one college, and it was a very simple process, and I was accepted. I’m fully done, but I’m making updates to my personal statements.
Tyrzah: I’m relatively far along. I already did Quest Bridge, which is a different type of application with different essays and prompts. I turned that all in in September. We’ll see if I can get everything together for early action. I think it’s been going pretty well. The only thing is that it’s really hard to try and balance all the different types of work you have to do.
Ty’Asia Carver: I have my essays almost done, and pretty much everything except for supplements.
Are sports negatively impacting your time capacity?
Robert: It makes it exponentially harder. I get home at 8 o’clock, and I feel dead and so tired, but I still think it’s good to have this fun thing to balance out life with.
Do you feel good about where you are right now?
Austin: I wish I had started my application process over the summer, but that’s my only regret.
Robert: Since we’re all doing it together, it feels a bit more fun because you have everyone around you. I feel pretty happy about where I’m at.
While conducting these interviews, it became clear that the college application process takes great endurance and dedication to undergo, and is a testament to the work ethic and personal growth throughout. While it can be an incredibly stressful time for those involved, it ultimately leads to a stronger grit for the challenges that lie ahead.
Editor’s note: Some articles have been edited for formatting and clarity.
