College application season creates an abundance of stress for high school seniors
Are seniors stressing out about college for no reason?
College. The one word that everyone seems to know at a young age. The one event that our society has been trained to look forward to. It’s a milestone. A right of passage. A scary time and a happy time. However, it does not come without challenges.
College application season is now upon us. Filled with teacher recommendations, multiple essays, and countless application questions. Along with numerous questions from family members which seem to fill every waking moment, college applications can be very stressful for seniors. Added schoolwork and sports practices on top of everything can lend itself to many stressful and sleepless nights.
Then the questions that hit every senior at some point come into play, “Is this all worth it?” or “Do I really need to go to college to have a successful life?” But, when the light can be seen from the other side of the tunnel and the number of applications to be finished becomes smaller and smaller, it somehow seems worth it. Spirits lift and full nights of sleep come back. Life is good again, well that is other than the senioritis that is slowly creeping in.
The rollercoaster of emotions then comes back again when acceptance letters start rolling out. Tears stream down faces both from sad crying and happy crying. Dreams come true and days are ruined. The ultimate question of who will get in and who won’t plagues the minds of seniors.
College application time should be exciting and exhilarating, not stressful. It should be a time to plan for the future, not a time to make parents happy or to compete with friends to get into colleges.
A study done by New York University found that forty-eight percent of students who were studied said that they feel a large amount of stress on a daily basis, and thirty-one percent said they feel somewhat stressed. Students should not have to go through high school feeling constantly stressed about grades. That is not a good way to live life. More than half of the juniors from two schools that were studied reported feeling stressed on a daily basis, and society should not be okay with that.
According to The Princeton Review, forty-three percent of high school students say that getting into college is their main driver for doing well in school. That is most likely one of the reasons why applying to college is so stressful. Students feel like they have been working their entire academic career to either pass or fail the final test – getting accepted into college or getting declined. While many people will get into at least one college, the major stress comes from trying to get into the “dream school.” That one school that has been the ultimate goal to get into. When students feel as though they will never be able to get in, they feel their dream has been ruined and their life is over. However, that simply is not the case. If everything happens for a reason, then not getting accepted into a certain college can be a positive and not a negative.
Parents can also lead to a lot of stress. Sixty-four percent of teens do not feel comfortable leaning on their parents for academic support, according to a 2015 study done by The Princeton Review. Students should always be able to come to their parents for support no matter what. Good or bad grades shouldn’t matter if a child is trying and applying themselves. In the end, hardwork is really all that matters, then if it is evident in any college application, the chances of getting in will more likely increase.
Being a teenager, going to high school and balancing sports and a social life is already stressful enough without all of the added pressure of college. Teenagers should be able to enjoy their last years of constant support from friends and family before they go off on their own. Students also feel unmotivated and bad about themselves if their parents are not supportive of them. College should be something to look forward to in the future, not something to be afraid of.
Today college seems like a dark, stormy cloud hovering above one’s head, one that does not go away until an acceptance letter comes. Instead, it should be a fluffy, bright cloud, waiting for the exciting day when an acceptance letter comes in.
