With college application deadlines approaching senior students, including myself, have been busy filling out applications, sending in transcripts, and writing essays.  Sam Shepherd, a senior at Arrowhead High school says as application deadlines approach, her anxiety builds.

This process is stressful for many, and after applications, anxiety of an acceptance or rejection letter lingers in students’ minds. But is this process too stressful for teenagers?

Whether it is keeping track of different applications or the anxiety of waiting to learn what could lie ahead, students are apprehensive about applications.

Shepherd says applications have been stressful for her, as well as her friends. She says one of the most stressful things is trying to complete her applications before their deadlines. UW-Madison’s first application deadline is November 3rd while Marquette’s first application deadline is December 1st. And most other deadlines fall within this time frame.

“I want to make sure I finish them on time, but I also want to be thorough,” Shepherd says.

The application process is time consuming and costly, she says. I can agree with Shepherd on this. With having to pay an application fee, a fee to send ACT scores and a fee to send your high school transcript, the costs can add up quickly, especially when applying to multiple schools.

The average senior will take roughly 40 minutes to an hour filling out just one application. And when applying to different schools, a lot of time can be taken up by simply filling out applications.  I personally wanted to make my applications perfect, which led me to spend far longer than 40 minutes on a single application.

Shepherd says waiting to hear back from schools she has submitted an application to, is the worst part about the college application process.

“It’s a frustrating waiting game,” she says. “I want to know where I could potentially be a year from now.”

I also know the anxiety of waiting for a letter. I applied to four schools, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and DePaul University. I received my acceptance to UW-Milwaukee rather quickly whereas the other schools have not gotten back to me yet.

It’s nerveracking waiting to find out news that will change my life.

Everyday, Shepherd says she checks the mail after school hoping to see an acceptance letter to any one of the schools she has applied to.

She knows her letters will come within a few months and understands colleges are swamped with applications right now, but is anxious to discover what her future holds.

The application process can be a suspenseful and stressful time for students, but it can also be a time of self-discovery and new beginnings.

As application deadlines soon approach, I wish the best of luck to my fellow applicants and I hope applications don’t prove to be too stressful.