As November and December approach, many seniors are feeling the pressure of submitting their early decision and early action college applications. These deadlines are not flexible; you must get all your materials, including recommendation letters and test scores, to the school by the stated deadline. These deadlines mean that you will find out earlier about your application status or commit early to your top school. 

Many seniors at Hills decided to apply to ED or EA and shared their thoughts about the application process. 

Senior Sarah Park applied early decision and early action because she wanted to get all of her applications done early. She feels that early decision is always a good option because then you are 100% accepted into that school. Park says the process was, “very very stressful.” She recommends starting earlier to reduce stress. 

Senior Julianna Jaffe has a different experience. Jaffe claims her application was not that stressful. She applied early action to every school she could such as the University of Delaware and the University of South Carolina. Similar to Park, she wanted to get her application status as soon as possible so she could make her decision process easier. Jaffe did not make early decisions anywhere because it is a “huge commitment that I am not willing nor confident enough to make,” Jaffe says. The only thing Jaffe would change about the application process is the word count on the essays because her biggest struggle was getting her Common-App essay to fit in the 650-word maximum. 

Senior Sydney Chessin felt differently about the early decision as she applied ED to Lehigh University. Chessin claims that when she visited the campus she got ‘that feeling’ and knew she would be happy there for the next four years. Chessin says the application process was “stressful and time-consuming. You have to manage your time correctly or else you feel too overwhelmed.” Chessin wishes the application process was shorter so she could manage her time more efficiently. 

Though opinions differ about college applications, many can agree the process is very stressful and modifications could be made to reduce this stress. Good luck to seniors applying and make sure to update us through our College Compass!