Honestly, whoever said that applying to college was simple must have had a very different experience than I have. Applying to colleges was a very complicated process for me. It also was quite a stressful time during my senior year, the year that many consider to be the most laid-back of all. Believe me, it’s not my intention for this article to scare people away from applying to college or to add unwanted stress, but in my experience, it was not the easiest of times.

From the first day of my senior year, teachers were already talking about scholarships, essays, and the oh-so dreaded FAFSA. I felt that I was both a student and a full-time employee, trying to determine what colleges I wanted to apply to and what applications I needed to fill out. I applied to ten colleges in total, which is the maximum number that you can put on the FAFSA form. While it seems like a lot, I went into the application process with an extremely vague idea of where I wanted to go to school. I applied to both public and private schools, all of them in the Midwest. It is difficult to narrow down choices because you’re afraid to overlook something or wonder whether you’ll regret your choice.

For my college application process, the most stressful thing was talking about myself. I strongly dislike talking about myself in everyday conversation, let alone having to send universities essays all about my personal experience. When I was writing these essays, I felt both overwhelmed and lost. I can imagine that I’m not the only person who finds it weird to talk myself up. It can feel almost like bragging. The idea of basing an entire essay on what I have done in high school is something that I’m still a bit uneasy about. I would rather just type in my information and be done with the process.

Although it was stressful, it was also rewarding in the end. All of my hard work finally paid off, it seems. All of my homework, projects, papers, and tests allowed me to attain the position that I’m in today. I want to know how everyone else’s college application process went. Was it easy? Daunting? Rewarding? Stressful? Or did you decide to go a different route after high school, such as the trades or the armed forces? Let me know in the comment section!