It’s the summer before your senior year; you’re feeling like you’re on top of the world.  School starts and everything is still great.  Then, as September comes to an end, and October starts to brew, college and the application process becomes the biggest thing on your mind.  You then realize that next year, your life will be completely different.

The process, including where you’ll ultimately decide to continue your education, plays a crucial role. To many, it is extremely burdensome and stressful, while to others it is a breeze. “I expected senior year to be fun and different, so far it has been besides all the stress of college,” says senior Lexie Tremper.

The college process usually consists of researching and touring schools all over the country. Once a student is sure about what schools they would feel comfortable calling their home, it’s necessary to find out important information such as deadlines and tuition fees. With the help of Naviance, an online source that helps organize many college tasks for the student, the student’s resume can be created and test scores can be imported here. Seniors must also request an accurate transcript of their four years of high school, and secure teacher recommendations as well.

For senior Amanda Maguire, her college process has been an easy ride. Committed to Montclair State University for lacrosse, she doesn’t have to worry about the normal fears and stresses that most seniors go through. “I did not have to fill out certain forms that an abundance of seniors had to, being that my school doesn’t even take common app” she said. Using her athletic ability to an advantage, she was able to commit and get accepted. She will still have to apply to Montclair State, but she gets to spend the most of her senior year worry free, unlike most seniors.

The Common App website is another resource in the application process that helps the student provide all their information to multiple schools in one shot. This application makes applying much quicker and convenient, as most schools all over the country accept this.

“It definitely takes stress off the process because it minimizes the amount of different applications needed, it unites all your stuff,” said Senior Annaliese Tietjen. Most seniors agree that the college process would be much more lengthy and stressful without the “Common App.”

“The college process is very long being that the schools want to know a lot about each individual, you need to do it to the best of your ability, especially if you’re applying early decision” said Chris Yeates. Students have the options to apply to their colleges “Early Decision” which is binding, “Early Action,” or “Regular Decision.” Most students will apply early action as there are multiple pros. The best features of early action applications is that students can apply and be notified about whether they were accepted without being forced to make a permanent decision. Also, the stress is taken away as students find out the results much earlier than regular decision.

A lot has to be taken into consideration during this entire process. A lot of anxiety is on seniors’ plates as they face perhaps the first major decision of their lives.