College applications are a taxing process, and unfortunately, there is no way around that. Trust me. As a suffering senior with most of my stress coming from constructing essays and supplements, listing and describing activities, making tough major decisions, and just recalling everything that I’ve done and felt over the last four years, I understand how it feels. However, steadily as we struggle toward the application finish line, there are some things that I’ve realized during this time that were unexpectedly positive.

Finding the place

Making a good college list is one of or arguably the most important step of the application process. Because this is first time that most people get to choose where they wish to spend their next years, it’s exciting, a little like window shopping. Therefore, looking into different colleges gives people a better perspective on what they, personally, wanted in their life. Sometimes discovering a new major that sounded interesting to study or finding a cool study abroad and research opportunity, every new thing that is learned about a college helps you find new things about yourself. Engaging classes, activities, location, demographics, liberal vs. conservative, number of students, and even college culture are all things that have to be considered, but in the end, knowing what colleges would be good fits may make you more excited to someday meet people who care about the same things that you do.

Discovering new passions

As someone who grew up believing that there were only around 20 professions in the world with one pathway to each, going through each of the college’s major lists was an eye-opening experience. There is an area for almost every interest and even combined majors that have two seemingly unrelated disciplines such as Biology and English. I had also always believed that one had to be a biology major to go to medical school, but it actually doesn’t actually matter what one majors in. So with almost a hundred options, many people end up changing some choices that they thought they had set in stone, and they may even begin to blend together multiple interests to be able to pursue everything that they want. Because college isn’t as rigid or cookie cutter as high school, it’s a great new feeling to have that freedom of choice and exploration.

Soul-searching

The most difficult and stressful part of applications is, no doubt, the essays. If the colleges only asked what students did during high school, it would’ve been easy, but instead, they focus on deeper things that are not easily explained. “Why was this skill/activity meaningful to you?” “How did you influence other people?” “What makes you a strong candidate?” “Why us?” Most people rewrite, change, and edit essays hundreds of times and even switch the topic as well, because these questions ask a lot from the writer. If you don’t even know what you’re writing about or why you’re writing, then the reader definitely will not know. So the process is a whole lot of soul-searching, thinking of connections, reasons, beliefs, and even of small things that mean a lot. So in a way, it is nice to dive deeper into life and find ways to share what makes you the person you are.

Sensing accomplishment

After filling out the awards and activities page of college applications, it ends up being a flashback to so many things that became important to people over the past four years. While my list isn’t necessarily super long or particularly impressive, it still gives me a sense of accomplishment. Despite the regrets, I felt proud of myself for doing what I could.

When I turn in this application, I will feel once again this sense of great accomplishment and relief, and while it was a grueling process that I may possibly despise for the rest of my life, I still wish to be a little optimistic and remember that it helped me come a little closer to making a future where I’m happy.