Senior year is often depicted with “High-School-Musical”-esque celebrations, freedoms, and confidence. However, the first true season of senior year, the senior year “fall,” begs to differ.
There are small celebrations to be had: those dreadful college applications being over or finally making it through a sleepless week of perpetual homework. Maybe. If only confidence wasn’t also at an all time low.
24 hours is not nearly enough time in a day it seems. Not even the most organized person in the world can balance going to school, doing hours of homework, working a job, maintaining a normal sleep schedule, applying to college, and, for some, playing a sport.
“I was expecting senior year to be a breeze and feel so easy after going through junior year winter,” senior Sukhi Mahadevan said. “But the combination of school, having to do 30,000 other things, and take so many AP classes is making me feel stressed and panicked.”
Socialization and friends provide no escape, either. Because everyone is so panicked about the direction of their life after high school, it feels like there is nothing else going on in life but college.
“The impending doom of college application deadlines is terrifying and somehow sneaks its way into every conversation,” Mahadevan said. “It takes all of us students through a downward spiral of stress because everything you have been doing for the past four years is culminating in this moment, thinking, ‘Where am I going to end up?’”
We know that Bulldogs Don’t Bully, but the Common Application, an online website used to apply to the majority of the colleges, pushes us around like the Freshman Friday that never was.
Seniors are expected to explain why they are the most intelligent, innovative, yet well-rounded candidate in a mere 650 word essay. 650 words and test scores dating back to when students were 14 years old determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives.
“Writing a common app essay is so hard because there are so many guidelines because you see what to do and what not to do to have a good or bad essay,” senior Sierra Saylor said. “You have to brag about yourself, but not come off too braggy, in an engaging story about yourself.”
Focusing on college applications rather than schoolwork is a risky choice, though. Because students have worked their way up in their core classes and electives, AP and DE classes seem like the only options, so there is no time to slack off. Senior year teachers design their courses to be at the highest level of difficulty in order to prepare students for their entrance into adulthood.
“Compared to previous years, I have a lot more homework and it is very draining,” Saylor said. “I think because we are seniors, the classes have become more self-paced and college-like to prepare us for the real world.”
With the already time consuming school, homework, and application schedule, there is almost no time to do anything else. However, most seniors have to allot time to working a job because of how expensive college tuition has become.
“After work, I realistically do not start homework until 11 p.m., and then I do homework until 1 a.m., then I will wake up earlier the next day to get more done,” senior Sophie Yeager said. “If I have too much to do, I may not even be able to finish all of my homework.”
Overall, the beginning of senior year is filled with anxiety and anticipation. The light at the end of the tunnel that students are promised as underclassmen really becomes submitting college applications and hoping for college acceptances, both of which are scheduled for a day that feels like it will never arrive. As of right now, fall has been the season of panic accompanied by a consistent and unavoidable sinking feeling.
