The end of college application season is drawing closer and closer for high school seniors at John Marshall High School and with it comes a variety of emotions. With the Early decision and action deadline hitting November 1st for most universities, Seniors were faced with a wake-up call and the effects can be seen across the graduation class of 2024.
Some seniors have been preparing for this moment since as early as sophomore year, narrowing down their list of schools and preparing to write the many essays needed. For others, they only are just now beginning.
With these applications come questions. Namely, how are these seniors handling it all?
Casey Kim, a senior at John Marshall High School and classmate said she is “so stressed it feels like my soul is dying every day.”
Kim is applying mainly to UCs and privates and has been working on the applications since the day the application window opened.
Kim balances college applications with school work she said, “It’s been really hard but I try and give myself time for both.”
Other students felt similar. Kevin Giron was just “barely starting” his college applications when I sat down with him. He said that he’s “very stressed” and that it’s “been really hard to balance everything with college applications,” Giron said. “Every time I finish school work there is other stuff to do around the house and then I have no time for the college stuff.”
Emma Rayo said, “Applications alone are stressful and with AP classes it’s a lot.”
I noticed many people struggled to balance everything with most either putting off school work or college applications. This made me question how well Marshall was preparing the seniors on campus.
John Marshall High School offers a wide variety of college prep but many students I spoke to feel it is not promoted well. There are essay workshops after school and college visits to our campus but many students felt as though they were “too late.”
When I asked Emma Rayo if Marshall had adequately prepared her for the college application process she said “No, not really. I know that there are a lot of workshops but I started my applications over the summer and most people are beginning to submit their applications this week so it feels too late to begin workshops. They should have had them at the end of junior year.”
This seemed to be a similar thought to everyone I interviewed. Kylee Bernal said, “ I don’t think they prepared us early enough.” and Ian Jennings told me, “My applications were due in October but there was not really enough help during that time so I was left on my own”
It wasn’t that the services being offered weren’t helpful. Many of the students I have talked to have found them useful but it feels like everyone was just finding out about them. With such strong claims, I did a little digging.
Under the John Marshall High School 2024 page on Schoology there has been a myriad of posts since as early as August 14th, our first week back at school, and on September 7th, there was a Senior Information night which included a college application section. There was been an average of one post a week regarding college applications since the beginning of the school year. If Schoology was not your go-to, the college center even has an Instagram account with over 500 followers. There, they have multiple posts about the workshops they offer.
The interviews I conducted and the general thoughts I have felt in the past weeks have made me wonder about the kids who didn’t have the same push for college as me or others. I found that there was a lot of information being told to me in my senior year that would be more suited for my sophomore or junior year, which is when the college search is recommended to begin. Instead, information about the letter of recommendation was being sent out weeks into the school year when many teachers weren’t taking any more.
On top of this, I found myself reflecting on my own experience applying to college. My applications were all submitted on the 29th of October, just two days before the Early Action deadline. But I also applied to international schools, which I had to navigate all on my own. When I went to a workshop at school, I found that a lot of my questions couldn’t be answered directly and I had to search for answers on my own. This is not a fault of the advisors themselves but rather I think we need to have college discussions earlier and with a broader context. At Marshall, I and many others feel like there is little time and little room. We are stressed and tired and can’t wait for the new year to come.
