For rising seniors all across the country, college application season can be a very stressful experience. There are countless aspects of the process that go into creating a sound application: teacher recommendations, essays, transcripts and financial aid. Without guidance, applying to colleges can most certainly be an overwhelming experience. However, AHS underclassmen have one major advantage this year: a college student panel.

The College Student Panel, which took place Thursday, May 17, was comprised of five outstanding seniors: Jonathan Bingham (California State University, San Bernardino, Creative Writing), Stella Cho (University of Notre Dame, Biochemistry), Zoltan Hargitay (New York University, Business Administration), Ben Reed (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Mechanical Engineering), and Jefferson Yin (Swarthmore College, Liberal Arts). Each senior shared details about their college application experiences and their advice to the attendees, many of whom will be applying to college this very fall.

At the prompting of student organizers, Martin Lu and Arizah Saif, the seniors answered questions such as “How did you choose your major?” and “What resources did you utilize during the application process?” For junior Erika Tang, their insight was extremely helpful in clarifying the lengthy and oftentimes complicated application process. “Before attending the College Student Panel, I didn’t really have a clear idea of what went into the application process,” she mused. “But after hearing the seniors share their experiences, I had a better understanding of it all and was inspired to be more open-minded about my potential college and major choices,” concluded Tang. After the panel finished prompted responses, the organizers directed them into a question-and-answer session, in which several students and parents were given the opportunity to ask some more personal or specific questions about each student’s application process.  

Although the session lasted the full two hours, parents and students with lingering questions were invited to attend additional college workshops on campus, such as the counselor-hosted “Jumpstart Your College Applications” session on Tuesday, May 22, and the “Writing College Essays” workshop on Wednesday, May 23. All students were also welcomed to take advantage of the counseling office’s variety of college application resources, schedule an appointment with their assigned counselor, visit the Counselor of the Day desk, and utilize AHS’ new college application tool, Naviance.

College applications may indeed be daunting, but Arcadia Apaches can rest assured that they’ve got everything they need to craft an impressive application! Best of luck to our rising seniors, and thank you to the student organizers, senior panelists, school administrators, and AVID for hosting such a helpful event!