I Finally Submitted My College Apps: My Experience and What I Learned from the Brutal Process

All throughout my high school journey, college always felt so far away. Even the mere idea of college seemed intangible, because it was a concept meant for the older version of myself. Now, I am a senior entering my last semester of high school, and I can barely believe it myself, but I’m done with my college applications.

My college applications marked the beginning of my college journey, and I am excited to share with you my personal experience. This means the process of actually filling them out, along with writing those essays. (Deciding what colleges you want to apply to and choosing what college you want to commit to are two other different processes.) Just so it’s clear, I am American, and I applied to American universities, so my experience might be different than yours is/was/will be.

First, it’s important you understand the truth: college apps are brutal for everybody. For me, my entire life focused on balancing my social life and academic responsibilities with my college apps. It was a lot, to say the least. But I also learned more about myself, and I had a chance to reflect on my past three years as a high schooler.

So, if you’re just learning about the college application process, or if you’re about to start it yourself, here’s a detailed reflection of my experience in the last six months.

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Completing My College Apps Was a Journey

I am going to be honest: when navigating through the college app process, I made mistakes. One of the most influential ones was at the beginning, or rather, lack of beginning. I procrastinated, and started my college apps way too late.

My school advised us to begin writing our personal essays in May or June of our junior year and work on them all throughout the summer. I did not. I didn’t start writing my essays until mid September.

I got stuck before I began. I was scared to mess up, so I didn’t even try. Though it can be normal to go through these doubtful feelings, I highly recommend getting help so you could at least make an outline before senior year starts.

Ask a friend, teacher, mentor, or take a class. This would have helped me tremendously, because I was facing a lot of pressure in a short period of time due to my procrastination.

The one thing I did complete before school started was a majority of what my applications consisted of. This includes personal questions/information, intended major, grades and classes, awards, and activities. This section was tedious and time consuming, but I got it done.

The most difficult part for me was the activities. I felt unsure filling this out because I didn't know which activities were worthy to even include in my app. I also felt nervous because I thought I didn’t have enough activities to impress admission officers.

What helped me to feel more confident about this section was positive thinking. I reminded myself that even though I don’t have as many activities, I am hardworking and dedicated in everything I do, so that made me feel better. Just filling out those applications really opened my eyes to how much effort I put in the last three years, so that made me proud of myself, too. I can’t promise my future, but I can mark my journey there with grace and optimism.

Writing my essays proved to be extra challenging because I procrastinated for so long. I applied to a lot of University of California schools, so I had only two months to write four Personal Insight Questions by the time I started writing. (PIQs are essays specific to UC). I also needed to write my Common App essay, but I had a little more time for that one.

I really did fall behind, but I managed to pick myself back up during this short period because I was determined to succeed with my college apps. My value of diligence triumphed over my tendency toward avoidance. Everyday I worked hard to get these essays done.

The first thing I did was brainstorm ideas that I could write about. I thought about what makes me, me, to really show the admission officers who I am.When I actually began to write, I just wrote as much as I could without really stopping to analyze. Once I had a rough draft involving an overflow of ideas, I polished my writing over and over.

Editing later helped to keep me “in the zone,” and encouraged creative thought. I struggled a lot, but I just tried again and again until I was happy with my writing.

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I also had a lot of people review my essay, including friends, family members, and one of my teachers to ensure the prevention and deletion of any kind of mistakes.

Let me make clear that not all the schools I applied to required a personal essay or even any kind of writing at all. Some apps took not very long, while others took months. The first apps I submitted were in October, and the last ones were in January.

Anyways, though it took a lot of time, I eventually finished with all my college apps, and I was proud of my hard work and I really liked my essays and other supplementary writing. Also, the feeling after I first submitted each college app, especially the apps to the universities I really want to attend, was heavy. I was scared and excited and relieved and worried all at once. Now, a couple months later, I am mostly excited, so don't worry, it gets better.

In the end, I applied to fourteen schools, all but one are regular decisions. I applied to one out-of-state school and two private schools. The remaining are in-state, public universities.

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What I Learned

One of my biggest takeaways from applying to college is the importance of spending time with family and friends during times of stress. Yes, I had to give up a lot of my free time, including canceling plans or not making plans at all, to focus on my college apps. However, I didn’t give up spending time with the people I love completely, because that time together helped lessen my stress.

Their love for me is powerful, and helped me realize that I am not alone. I was also able to slow down and remember who I am beneath all this pressure.

I also learned how to critique my abilities under pressure because I could see how I managed my time and workload regarding my college apps. This ensures better efficiency in the future. For example, I saw how easily I succumbed to procrastination, so next time I will make more of an effort to adopt a healthy routine and avoid this bad habit.

If you're worried about applying to college, I can guarantee you’ll be okay, even if you find yourself struggling or falling behind. Everybody faces difficulty during this process, but also remember everybody's experience is different. So don't compare yourself to others; instead, just try your best, work hard, and stay positive. Everything is going to be alright.