1.   Taking Standardized Tests

SAT? ACT? AP? TOEFL? IELTS? These jumbled letters start to annoy you. Especially learning 1500 words, which starts to feel like you are studying a new language.

2.   Peer Pressure

Seriously, why are people freaking out about the Common App? Calm down, guys. We’re supposed to have fun. It’s #senioryear!

This is your reaction until you realize that you’re the only one in class who doesn’t have a Common App account.

3.   Finding Colleges

For every college that you see online: This college is the coolest. It’s like I’m on a tour of Hogwarts. This is one of the most exhausting searches of your lifetime, even Sherlock Holmes has an easier job. You get tired of searching “best school for me” on Google umpteen amount of times.

4.   Asking for Recommendations

Does this teacher even like me? It’s so awkward to ask for a recommendation letter. I hope she doesn’t write about that time I was texting in class.

5.   Panic Mode Strikes

Wait, it’s almost November? PANIC. ‘LOOK AT ALL OF THIS STUFF! I’M NEVER GOING TO GET IT DONE!’ Freaking out. Insanity. Lots of hair-pulling.

6.   The Worrying Period

You begin worrying that you won’t get into ANY college and that you’ll never finish your supplemental essays. Just hearing the word “admissions” makes you anxious.
Worst of all, you start to trust College Confidential and TGID more than your own instincts.

7.   Getting Work Done

But you somehow pull yourself together and get your letters of recommendation in. Never forget to thank the people who were willing to write those for you! Without their contribution, your application might not have been accepted. You finally finish your essay and it looks pretty good. After triple-checking your application, it’s time to submit it and get this whole thing over with.

It’s over! You’re done!

8.   The Waiting Period

All your work has gone. Now you just have to hope for the best. But you can’t help thinking the worst. Your family is praying constantly and your counsellors keeps bugging you asking if you have heard back. Meanwhile, you keep thinking of the infinite reasons that you could get rejected. All of your Google searches become variations of “Will I get in?”

9.   Final Decisions are here!

Big envelopes in the mail? Emails starting with Congratulations? You know what that means! You don’t even need to open the envelope because COLLEGE! You have to make thousands of decisions … but COLLEGE.

Author: Simran Bhatia