Three days into senior year and I feel like I’m drowning. Not just from my three AP classes. Or staying after school until 7:00 every day for tennis. Or even that I’m not getting half as much sleep as I should be. The real reason I’m drowning is because of college applications. 

  As I was sitting in my first period class yesterday, I got an email from my essay advisor telling me I had gotten my first out of five strikes because I had forgotten to send him one of my supplements for NYU. It’s so embarrassing I’m surprised I even have the confidence to write it down. 

  Regardless of what it may look like, I wasn’t just blowing him off, in fact I enjoy writing certain essays, brainstorming, and talking to him on the phone. But in an attempt to enjoy my last few days of summer before everything got crazy and stressful, writing twenty different essays for the schools I’m applying to was a thing I subconsciously avoided. So sitting in my first period computer graphics class, I got an email notification for my first strike and my stomach dropped. I had to force it out of my mind in order to focus and have a decent first day. And that’s what I did until after tennis practice when I had to once again face my supplements. 

  Here’s the thing: I understand that each college wants to further see what its applicants are capable of. But in today’s society when the average student is applying to eight schools, writing an additional essay or two or seven for each school is absurd. I wrote as many of my supplements as I could this summer so I wouldn’t have to worry about it during the school year and the only thing I had to do was hit submit. Except that wasn’t the case. We’re currently almost a month into the school year and all my supplements aren’t done. I am not gonna lie about it, part of it was procrastination. Bt the other part of it was the idea of writing so many essays I had no idea where to start. 

  To all my other stressed seniors out there- I know you’re all going through the stress also, but think of this: in a few months we are all going to be knowing what we’re doing post-Eastern. So let’s just try to focus on enjoying these next few months as a class.