I know I’m not alone in this mess known as college applications.  Maybe you are also having to answer questions like whether or not you have ever been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation? 

     Or are there any criminal charges currently pending against you? 

     Have you entered a guilty, no contest, nolo contendere or Alford plea to a criminal charge, or plea under a first offender act?

     No, no, and no. 

     Who knew that these were the kind of things that I would need to respond to on the Common App.

      I thought applying to college would be an  exciting time.

But it isn’t. 

It’s exhausting. 

     Not knowing what to do or how to do it, makes this whole process so incredibly stressful. 

     In fact, it makes me want to cry.

     I feel like I have been left to figure everything out on my own.  And that’s scary, leaving me afraid that I might mess something up and not get into college. 

    Common App opened on August 1, and I had no idea how to work it. Prior to the end of my junior year there was no instruction from the guidance department on how to set up a Common App profile or how to navigate the website.   Instead they taught lessons on how to find colleges on Naviance.  

It would be far more beneficial to know how to apply to a school rather than how to find one.  

     Thank goodness for my mom joining all of these Facebook groups (which I thought was incredibly stupid at the time). They actually turned out to be very useful, in the grand scheme of things.

     These groups have been more helpful than just about anything else. These groups told me what type of activities and information that colleges wanted when filling out the activities section of Common App. 

     Another group taught me that it is very important to apply to literally every scholarship there is possible, as I learned very quickly that out-of-state tuition is not cheap. 

     Thank you to the teacher who told me that I had to go into Naviance to request a letter of recommendation, when I was not told that you had to click a button to request it. 

      I have been to the guidance office two times in less than a month just to get my transcripts sent to schools. I was told that I had to fill out a form to give permission to get them sent. But if these forms were handed out at the end of last year, the counselors would not have to see students individually just to give us a paper. 

     What really would have been helpful is a guidance counselor who SHOWED  us how to apply to college, who took the time to come to our English classes during our junior year and tell us what to do, and to help us succeed during this new challenge, someone that was there to help me figure out what to write in the activities section, and how to make myself look like the type of person that a college wants. 

      If this kind of change was made, no student would have to  navigate a tricky process by themself, causing more stress in a year that is already so very challenging.