As Saint Ignatius seniors juggle classes and college applications many are finding unique strategies to manage the workload. While each student approaches the process differently, they all face the same challenge: balancing their application process and their personal lives.
“I have balanced myself by starting in the summer to complete my essays, so I don’t have as much to do in the school year,” senior Ava Gerami said. Gerami began her applications in June, hoping to finish before the busiest months of senior year. Like many students, Gerami is applying to a mix of schools with fall deadlines and often turns to family members for feedback on her drafts.
Staying organized with application deadlines as the school year begins helps alleviate some stress. Senior Isabelle Walsh said her physical planner has been essential.“This helps me to give myself assignments for each day and have little goals like to research a school or to draft a supplement,” Walsh said.
Walsh emphasized the importance of rest. “One thing that has really helped me stay on top is giving myself breaks to balance my time,” she said.
Senior Mackenzie Philbin highlighted making the most of school hours. “The strategies I have found most effective are using free periods wisely and doing homework during the week.”
Attacking the college application process is challenging and all three seniors agreed that the shorter supplemental essays were harder than the personal statement. Supplemental essays are usually limited to 100–300 words and ask specific questions such as “Why this school?” or “Describe a community you belong to?” Unlike the longer 650 word personal statement, which gives students space to tell their broader story, supplements demand precision and depth in just a few sentences. “Shorter essays require more thought on what individual schools are looking for,” Walsh said.
While some seniors are finding their own creative ways to balance the immense amount of stress that accompanies college application season, the process looks quite different for student athletes already committed to a college.
Even though a verbal commitment essentially secures the student a spot on a collegiate level team, this does not mean that the admissions process is over.
“I still have to get into the school and meet all of their testing requirements, rather than just getting everything flagged by my coach for immediate admission,” said University of Pennsylvania volleyball commit Skylar Greene.“The Ivy League doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, so that is why their admissions process is different,” Greene added.
While accepting an offer to play a sport in college allows for some high school athletes relief of stressing out over college applications and academics, Colleen Tracy, a Georgetown swimming commit, explains that it also relieves the stress of competing in her sport.
“Committing has definitely made me feel like less pressure in terms of swimming because it can be really difficult to compete when you are constantly trying to impress someone, now I just try to impress myself,” said Tracy.
Whether it is through athletic commitments, early starts, planners, or healthy time management skills, the seniors at Saint Ignatius are discovering that there is no straight path through the college admissions process.
“It’s a lot of work now, but in the end, we’re hoping it gives us the results we want,” said Walsh.
