Seniors Reflect on College Applications

Your cursor hovers over the “Submit” button on your final college application; you take a deep breath, and upon clicking it, the green “Congratulations!” pop-up fills your screen for the final time. The feeling of relief accompanying this moment has been something every BIFU senior has experienced these past few weeks as the college application season finally comes to a close.

Starting as early as summer break, BIFU seniors, as well as high school seniors around the country, work tirelessly—writing essays, filling out personal information, perfecting essays, and applying for financial aid—as they prepare to submit the culmination of years of hard work to top colleges in essays with just a few hundred words.

Students are supported through the entire process by the dedicated college counseling team at BIFU, Ms. Ye and Ms. Shah. This year’s seniors met with the counselors starting in their junior year to begin crafting their applications. The benefit of starting early is that the counselors have more time to build relationships with the students to better assist them in the process.

“[Starting early] allows me to know the student better, know their stories better, and also help them get more comfortable talking with me and sharing their experiences with me,” said Ms. Ye. “It's always really challenging to help the student open themselves and tell their genuine stories to us so we can help them present their true selves on their applications.”

Even with plenty of support from the counselors, the bulk of the work falls on the students themselves. At BIFU, most seniors apply to a wide range of targets, reaches, and safeties, with some students applying to as many as 40 schools. With this many applications comes an onslaught of essays to write.

Essays are indisputably the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of college applications, but also the way the students show the most about themselves. In addition to the personal statement, most universities have their own supplemental essay questions, and these can come as a great difficulty for students.

“The worst part for me was actually my first school’s supplemental because I think when you're first starting out, it's really easy to have writer's block and not know what you're doing,” shares Selena Peng (12).

Peng and many other seniors have expressed that the writing tends to get easier over time, as essays can often be reused with slight tweaks for different schools.

Another part about essay-writing that students found difficult was expressing authenticity.

“I think the biggest thing in regards to essays is show, not tell,” offers Samahith Thellakal (12). “You want to showcase that you're passionate, not directly say it.”

For students like Xun Zhu (12), a portfolio was a large part of their applications.

“There's a lot of integrity from the student. I think colleges have a lot of trust in that I don't use AI or other people’s work,” said Zhu.

These portfolio applications tend to have later deadlines due to the expected amount of artwork in each one.

Once students submit all their applications, it’s natural to experience the phenomenon that is “senioritis,” a case that describes seniors who lose motivation to complete any work in their final year of high school.

“I think I do experience senioritis and have a tough time being present and everything while also focusing on college applications,” said Peng.

For a lot of seniors, the senioritis kicked in hard once the last application was submitted, and they found themselves taking back their past promises of maintaining a club or staying caught up in class.

“Just remember it's your senior year. It's your last time [in] high school and I think you should make the most of it,” said Peng. “Work hard in your classes, do all of the opportunities that you can get to and just have fun.”

Seniors find it important to maintain a balanced lifestyle filled with both productivity and the fun that comes with being a high schooler who’s finally done with school. Too much of either is a problem, and the middle ground is where students can prepare for college while enjoying it.

To students who may be preparing for college applications soon, Ms. Ye offers a piece of valuable insight: “Students always want to present the best side of themselves, but that's not actually what the colleges are looking for. They're not looking for a perfect student. They're looking for real students.”