Senior year. The culmination of all our high school years. The end of junior year, the most stressful year of our lives.

Or is it?

Everything you hear about senior year makes you think it will be a breeze; that you can switch off, stop working and give up.

If you ever thought this, please know that your illusion is about to be shattered.

I’ve been a senior now for twelve days and already I think I am more stressed than I ever was in junior year. Not only am I still taking difficult classes and the ACT, but now I also have to add writing college essays, a Drishat Shalom, and the complete unknown of where I will be this time next year to the list of things to do and think about.

And of course the majority of this stress stems from college applications and the mountains of work this elicits.

There are over seven hundred colleges in America. Of these seven hundred you must first identify where you would like to spend the next four years of your life. After you have carefully selected a lucky fifteen, you must then start the application process.

Now, don’t be fooled, it’s not one application and you’re done. Oh no.

If you want to attend private schools, most of them make you apply via the Common App. If you’re applying to UC’s as well then you will have to fill out a Common App and the UC app. If you’re also applying to several private schools and public schools you may also have to complete a Coalition App in addition to the Common App and UC app.

Each application comes with hours of form filling as well as essay prompts and/or supplemental questions based on the app and the school. This grueling, lengthy process takes a long time to complete. Oh, and don’t forget, you can’t exactly wing it because these applications and essay responses will determine where you spend the next four years of your life and probably how the rest of your life works out too.

If you’re a student that will need financial aid, then there will probably be more essays for scholarships as well as several multi-page applications to different organizations for the various aids.

So we busy seniors must complete all of this during our first semester as well as keeping up with school, community service, standardised tests and graduation requirements.

As a result of all of this, we seniors are probably busier and more stressed than any other student in the school, at least for these first few months.

Senior year is filled with specific pressures that no one can understand until you yourself find yourself in this situation. Please be understanding of Seniors that find themselves stressed out.