Just How Stressful Are College Apps?

The average Gilman senior spends around 46 hours in total on their college applications. That’s a lot of time. The average senior will also have extracurricular commitments and homework from their classes in the fall. That’s a lot more time. Given that one only has 168 hours in a week, and that the average high school student will spend 49 of those 168 asleep, the average amount of time that you’ll have left to yourself in a week is around 119 hours. Now, after subtracting the amount of time that you spend at school and the time that you spend on other activities from the remaining 119 hours, you’ll come to find that you don’t have much free time. For seniors, this problem is compounded by the fact that they have to decide what colleges they’ll apply to. All throughout the fall and into winter, seniors spend hours of their time in school in college counselor meetings, and out of school working on their college applications. All of this consumes precious time that they could use to do other work and to unwind. Seniors are human too, however, which means that the pressure and time-consuming nature of college admissions will inevitably add considerably to one’s stress levels. 

Before touching on the stress of the college application process, we must take into consideration the workload that a senior has. A senior whose schedule is filled with activities and classwork is likely to be more stressed about applying for college than a senior who does less. Jonah Milstone ‘25 stated that he spent around 11 hours on extracurriculars every week, and around three hours on his homework every night during admissions season. Due to this, Jonah said that “it was hard to motivate myself to do my essays” as a result of being exhausted from his other work. Francis Beam ‘25, on the other hand, provided a different perspective: “gave me the space from the stress of it [college essays]”. He later added that working on other activities allowed him to return to his essays with “a complete sense of the topic.” Based on these two testimonies, it becomes clear that the various out-of-school work that a senior must do can prove to be either a burden or a blessing to him. 

Preparation, as well, can affect the stress of applying to colleges, as those who are more prepared will often find it easier to navigate the process. Chris Angelos ‘25 thought he was moderately prepared, stating that “I started writing mine [essays] at the end of August because there was this college essay class here at Gilman.” The class mentioned is Gilman’s college essay course held by the College Counseling Office in late August of each year. They also offer a similar online version of the course in June for students unable to attend the later course.  Through attending the August course, which is held in late August, Chris felt that it better prepared him to deal with the chaos of the school year, both by letting him know what to expect when writing essays and getting a jump start on the applications themselves. Chris added that his college counselor, Ms. Anna Follensbee, was instrumental in preparing him for the stress of the entire process, referring to her as “a lifeline” both before and during the admissions process. Jackson Heather ‘25, meanwhile, had mixed feelings on his preparedness. On one hand, Jackson thought that he had done adequate preparation for the general process, stating “I did my research on the schools I was applying to.” In doing so, Jackson felt that he was adequately prepared for knowing which colleges to apply to and how to talk about them in his essays. However, Jackson also confessed that he “went into it not really knowing that much of what I was gonna write” for his essays. He managed to deal with this issue with his knowledge that “a lot of colleges are looking for genuine students,” saying that he used this knowledge to help him think of ideas of what to write about in his essays. Through Jackson and Chris’s experiences, it becomes obvious that adequate preparation beforehand can help mitigate the stress caused by the admissions process, as knowing what to say or simply getting a headstart on writing can shorten the time taken during each essay.  

No matter how prepared one is however, there will always be stress in the admissions process. Be it overbearing parents or the pressure of deciding your entire fate, some aspects of applying for colleges will add to one’s stress. However, the only question is, “How much stress will you get?” Idoko Obeya’s ‘25 response was that his stress around his applications was at its worst “two weeks before they were due,” mainly due to the workload from a few difficult classes. Chris Angelos added to this, stating that college applications “aren’t the worst thing in the world, but it definitely is an added stress, a thing that’s always on your mind.” For Chris, part of this stress was due to his parents being incredibly invested in the process. However, he felt that the stress didn’t have a tangible effect on his life, as he was able to get the same amount of sleep as before, and felt that his life was, for the most part, unchanged. 

Francis Beam ‘25, on the other hand, felt differently, stating that he was “very, very stressed” throughout the entire process. Francis thought that “writing the essays was stressful, but it was not as stressful as the time that I’m waiting for responses right now.” He attributed this to the fact that when writing essays, he could cope with the stress due to the knowledge that he was able to physically impact his essays. If he was stressed about a certain paragraph, he could edit it until he felt satisfied. Afterward however, all he could do was wait to get back a response. Jackson Heather echoed this sentiment, stating that he thought the process was “really stressful.” The burden is even heavier for those students who were deferred from college in the early round. 

No matter how stressed they were during the admissions process however, most seniors have finished with their applications and submitted them to their respective colleges. Out of the fires of this brutal and stressful ordeal however, come hardened veterans of the process, ones who are filled with advice to those who are about to embark on this journey in the coming years. One of the most prevalent pieces of advice is to trust your college counselor, with Chris saying “They [counselor’s] really do want what’s best for you.” Another piece of advice offered by Idoko is “Don’t only focus on essays because there’s a lot more.” Jonah expanded on this, saying “Almost everybody’s really happy where they go. Tons of people get rejected, deferred, or waitlisted, but they’re still gonna be happy where they go.” 

So, even if you’re done with the admissions process, or have years until you even have to consider it, keep in mind that countless people have already experienced it. Though you may not have the same experience as them, knowing how they dealt with the process and the stress that arose from it will be invaluable knowledge, as one can only truly know how to combat something through recalling how those before have done so.