Senior year is supposed to be the most eventful and exciting year. It is the last year of high school and it is when many students start to plan their future in college. But for a lot of students, this time feels less like a time to relax and have fun and more like a marathon. Between college applications, classwork, tests, and sports, seniors often feel like they are suffocating from these responsibilities. 

According to CollegeData, “Many seniors find themselves balancing a full course load, extracurriculars, and college application, leading to increased stress and burnout.” This is exactly what students at de Toledo High School are feeling.

School president Lielle T. (‘26) told me her school day schedule is completely filled. The day is full of “a lot of unnecessary work,” she said, also adding that she is constantly trying to balance school assignments with her college applications. 

Lielle plays sports at school too, which makes this way harder for her. “Sports after school cut into my homework time which cuts into my college application time,” she explained.

Another senior, Justin H. (‘26), is applying to 12 colleges. He spends “roughly three hours a week” working on essays and forms. Sometimes, he’s had to choose between doing homework or working on applications and studying, and on top of that he wishes his teachers could comprehend “that giving so many tests makes it almost impossible to balance applications and studying.”

What advice would you give to a junior as a senior to help them prepare for college application season? Well Rosie W. (‘26) gave some advice for Juniors saying, “Start your college work early, such as your common app.”Rosie shared that she’s gotten help from her college counselor, which has made things easier for her. Still, she claims the workload is heavy. While she would appreciate a lighter workload during the application season, she feels that it might make classwork less effective for her in the future. 

The stress these seniors are talking about isn’t just at de Toledo. A Higher Ed Dive report said, “Over half of students rank college application as their most stressful academic experience.” 

And the Spartan Shield discussed that “college applications and school work are a major source of stress for high school seniors.”

From what I have learned, seniors really are juggling too much. Schools often don’t lighten the workload, even though this is a season when students need time to focus on their futures. Listening to students like Lielle, Justin, and Rosie, it is more clear that even though hard work is important for seniors, seniors also deserve more understanding of how much work their students actually have. You might have gone through the same process and are wondering why we should change this now, well just because this has been the system for a while now doesn’t mean it is a good system.