What is the most annoying question to a high schooler?
As a rising senior, the most annoying question I get asked is, “Where are you going to college?” First off, I have yet to be accepted into any colleges, or even applied to any. Secondly, I have no idea what I even want to major in college. Lastly, I have no idea where I even want to apply to! There are over four thousand colleges in the United States. So many choices of where I could go, and I need to pick one?
When I talk to all of my friends about their applications, they have everything figured out. They already know the college they want, the major and minor, and even what color bedding in their dorm room. It seems like everyone went to a seminar of planning out their future and I missed it. But even though I have a very small picture in my head of what I want to do, I still need to apply.
As I get further along in my college applications, I find out about the most absurd thing I have ever heard, application fees. I am paying about one hundred dollars per school to find out if I got in or not. But the thing is, it's recommended to apply to at least 5 schools. For almost five hundred dollars, I could buy so much food with that money. The worst part is that I'll pay half of them to reject me. (Just as a side note I'm talking about my reach schools here, just in case anyone was worried.)
My second least favorite part of applying is the amount of essays I have to write. First, I have my Common Application essay (which, for the record, makes sense and wasn't that hard of a topic). But on top of that, most schools have an essay specific to their school. Even though they are all a similar topic, you can't use the same essay. The best I could do is write a basic essay and edit it to fit my needs for each school. Even still, it's a lot of essays to write, especially since a lot of schools want to see something specific to their school so they know it's not just a cookiecutter essay. For example, if it's about why you want to attend the school, they want to hear about your love of the snow and how the snow in Wisconsin will make the entire campus amazing as you walk to class.
On top of the added stress of applying, I also have to juggle all my activities, regular and AP classes, and my social life (which, for the record, barely happened last year and I was only doing one AP). Thankfully though, only one year until I’m done.
After that, who knows, but at least I’ll know the answer to the dreaded question.
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