As the class of 2025 college acceptances roll in and the junior class’s college counseling courses ramp up, the pressure is on juniors to begin their journey to college. Each year as the deadlines approach the stress for seniors reaches an all-time high. This is largely due to the combination of IO’s (Individual Oral Presentations), IA’s (Internal Assessment), IB exams, coursework, and college applications which all reach a peak during senior year. Thus to ease this stress college counselors start teaching juniors as early as they can the do’s and don’ts of applying for college. With all that pressure and noise it is not easy to stay on track. Since the process is so overwhelming it’s easy to fall behind, especially considering the senior year workload. 

During this process seniors are very prone to losing track of the tasks at hand and how much time is left to complete them. A recent class of 2024 Village High School alumni spoke to this, emphasizing how important it is to stay ahead of the game and how it’s easy to get behind. “Staying organized is not one of my strong suits, I just minimized workload by doing applications when I had the time. Also having an essay specialist to help with my thought process for writing made it easier on me.” Said The Village High School alum Archer Gaynor, “The only thing I would do differently is apply earlier.” Another alum explained that coursework and application deadlines often clash with each other which can cause an extreme amount of stress. “At first I didn’t see the stress but as the semester went on and applications started to clash with school work, like exams and IB IA’s,” Said alum Carlos Hauh, “it started to get stressful.”

So what are some ways to combat this? Well, one very important detail is creating a school list early. “What I would tell students applying to college is that the earlier you can begin to plan the better.” Said Allison Murray one of The Village High School College Counselors. “I know we work in the spring semester on college lists but working on your own will make it easier. Especially if you start with a long list in grades nine and ten and narrow it down later.” It is so vital to familiarize yourself with what you are looking for in a university especially because they are all so different. Looking into a wide range of universities is important as a lot of times students will focus on prestige but those schools may not necessarily be right for them. “I think a big mistake students make is that they focus on rankings of universities and not what fits them as a student and as a person. I think it’s really important to be flexible and consider all options,” said Murray, “They are so concentrated on who’s in the top ten for whatever major that they are not focused on themselves and the best fit for them.” Additionally, keeping track of deadlines is super important. Knowing when your application deadlines are can help you create a timeline for when you need to complete certain steps of the process. Many tools can help with organization during this process. “Scoir is a great way to research colleges and have materials ready for your college counseling appointments,” said Murray. “Creating Excel spreadsheets or Google sheets of admission requirements for your universities can be helpful tools to make sure you are staying on track.” 

Something to keep in mind is that during senior year the amount of free time students have becomes even more scarce, so using that time wisely is incredibly important, especially as deadlines approach. But some things can be done before senior year. For example, fill out the information for your common app profile early. This will save you a lot of time for future applications since all of your information will be in one place. On top of this, writing your first draft for your common app essays early can be extremely helpful. This is especially important for those who wish to apply for earlier deadlines. “It would be nice to have a rough draft for the common app. The prompts do change but usually you can tweak the essay to the prompts for the year you apply,” said Murray. “Having a brainstorming session during the second semester of your junior year can help you come up with what you want to talk about during the summer and how you want to talk about it.”  If this season’s timeline is similar to last year’s, the prompts for the common application essays for the 25-26 application season should be released relatively soon. This will allow current juniors to get a head start on their applications. Familiarizing yourself with the prompts and starting your essay early can be a major assist as time passes. For people who struggle with deadlines, this is going to be a major detail especially because the workload will only go up after junior year.

Those are all aspects of applications specifically but here are some key things to stay on top of in general so you can be successful going into the application season. First, forming good relationships with your teachers. This will be a key factor when it comes to recommendation letters. Regardless of whether you are extremely successful in a subject or not, what counts is your relationship with that teacher. When it comes to recommendation letters you want to pick teachers who have a good grasp of you both as a person but also as a student. Some would even argue that choosing teachers who saw you grow whether personally or academically can benefit you. This is likely true because, for the most part, colleges are looking for someone who they can teach and who is open to learning and growing so choosing a teacher who can speak to your growth and development can highlight your capabilities as a student. Second, standardized testing can be a major assist for your applications. While many schools are still test-optional, a good test score can significantly assist your chances of getting accepted into some schools. This can also be useful for students who may not necessarily have a great GPA. Having a high test score can provide a baseline for academic ability and give schools a good idea of what you are particularly good at. That being said, scheduling tests early will be extremely useful. For juniors, the number of ACT and SAT dates is decreasing so it will be important for them to stay on top of that. Along with taking the SAT and ACT, it is important to consider doing test preparation. Many students who have done test preparation would agree that not only did their scores increase significantly, but they also felt way more prepared going into the exams which is extremely important. Finally, have a balanced extracurricular schedule and use that time for things that you enjoy. If you feel like you are passionate about something you should use that time to explore it especially early on in school. That being said, it’s important to recognize how much you can take on and balance it out. But extracurriculars are a great way to show a college admissions board what you are passionate about and what makes you unique. 

Murray emphasizes these points and expands on their importance. “If I could make a pyramid of most important to least important at the top I’d put GPA weighted unweighted than SAT, then course rigger, then extracurricular activities then recommendation letters. If an admissions board is on the fence about your recommendation letters are important to helping them make that decision,” said Murray. “If you know your GPA and SAT scores are a little bit below average, that’s when your extracurriculars and recommendation letters will come into play.”

So what’s the most important thing to take away from this? First, everyone is different and so is each university. Schools that are a fit for you won’t necessarily be the same as schools that are a fit for others. Stay ahead of applications! Senior year is a stressful and very busy time so anything that you can do before to help with the process will be a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. Also, make your list early and track the deadlines. This will help you with organizing your tasks and what you need to accomplish by a certain time. “College applications open on August 1st, 2025 so having your resume ready can help reduce the time you are going to spend on your applications,” said Murray. “Being mindful of the materials you need going into the fall can help you have an idea of the direction you need to be going in during your senior year.” 

In conclusion, use your time wisely. If you plan on going to college these tips are going to be crucial to the application process. Stay organized and stay on top of what your list requires. But most importantly breathe. This can be an overwhelming time for many students, but if you plan and focus you can make the process so much easier for yourself.