By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer
It’s mid-July of the summer before my senior year and I’m contemplating running away to a small village in Italy (or somewhere). I’ve had all summer to begin my CommonApp Essay draft but have been obviously preoccupied with better (more enjoyable) things to do. Now, I have one week until the first draft deadline my mother has given me (and my whole friend group?) and I’ve got nothing.
I’m not short of ideas, it’s the opposite actually. I’m rather saturated with ideas of who I am and what life means to me but how do I know which one is right? I could write a draft for every idea if I had my whole lifetime to write, but I only have three weeks until I move in and another week after that until school begins. And not to mention, how do I fit who I am into 650 words?
College applications would be bearable if they weren’t such a hot topic. For all of high school, adults always ask about my college and career plans. But the frequency has increased tenfold now that I am a rising senior. Now, all anyone is willing to talk to me about is how my college applications are going, what my essay is about, what colleges I’m applying to, what scholarships I need to look at, and which programs I’m interested in. It’s exhausting.
And the difficult reality is that it will only get worse. Even after the applications are completed, there is the anxiety about acceptances. Once accepted (or denied…), you have the constant asking about where you were accepted (or denied…) and if you’re attending or not.
Why must it be this way?
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