Why is Senior Year So Stressful?
by Julia Vilani

10/2/18… It’s October 2nd. Today I finished my college essay. Thank God that’s done with.

10/4/18… I am doubting I will even get into college, where will I end up?

10/5/18… Should I be applying to different schools? I have so much homework… 🙁 It’s spirit week, but it’s not as exciting as I expected it to be…why am I not enjoying school?

These are the thoughts that have been running through my head, from the moment I wake up to to the moment I go to bed. The stress of college applications has engulfed my senior year. I am expecting this to change once I get into college…

But will I even get accepted? I know it sounds silly, that I think I won’t get accepted into a school, but now it all just feels so hard.

The thought of going to college seems like a load of fun, but it’s also a load of stress. I mean, I have to write an essay about myself that sums up who I am in 650 words. I have to fill out the Common App, question after question after question.

I constantly worry about the deadlines lurching ahead – some just days away. Then there’s the nagging of my parents and the stress of filling out as many scholarship apps as I can. Don’t even get me started on the November 1st deadline.

While all of these stressors fill my plate, I can’t even begin to think about having fun. I expected senior year to be filled with football games on Fridays, less work, and weekends full of fun with my friends. But instead, it’s college overload. It truly is an abundance of work. College has become my job – and that’s just what I have to do to try to get into one, all while maintaining my grades, and my health, and playing a sport, and working at my job and all of that while filling out these lengthy applications. When is it going to end?

11/5/18… I got accepted to The University of Alabama

Wow, some of the weight has lifted off of my shoulders. I still can’t believe that this acceptance is true. The hard work has paid off. I can do this. The excitement sets in as I realize that this is everything I have been waiting for.

Alabama isn’t my top choice of schools, but it certainly is close. As I re-read my acceptance letter, I begin to understand the purpose behind everything I have done. Any senior can say school is hard work. Thankfully, I am able to say the hard work and the intense period of stress has paid off.

So the question so many 12th graders are asking is, “Why is senior year so stressful, when it’s supposed to be so fun?”

Well the truth is, it’s been a crazy mix of fun nights and stressful days. We had an exciting Homecoming, rallying in the stands. Spirit week gave every student the opportunity to be someone new. Seniors masked the faces of hard work and determination with silly costumes. We might not all be going to college, but we can all say that figuring out what we’re going to do in the future is a whirlwind of emotions. Of course we don’t truly know what our future holds. We can only do our best to prepare. The long nights of lying awake revising my essay in my head has prepared me for the long nights of studying in college.

Why is senior year so stressful? Because we care.

11/6/18… I wish all the luck to my fellow students and applaud them for whatever it is that their futures will bring. Each one of them is capable of amazing things. We have all motivated each other, and supported our individual decisions.

11/7/18… My name is Julia Villani. I am proud to be a senior at Brewster High school, part of the graduating class of 2019!

Senior Stress – Just Finish Already
by Brendan Fox

“Where’s our free time?”
“Where is the fun in
Senior year?”

There is so much to do and so little time. The application process has become more competitive than ever before, but I haven’t felt the stress yet. Maybe it’s an issue, maybe it’ll come later, or maybe I was just prepared.

In junior year, I attended all of my group guidance sessions and did what I was asked: it’s as simple as that. To all of the juniors and underclassmen, just do your work. Having my junior autobiography done by the end of junior year helped me organize college visits, and letters of recommendation and let me focus on the dreadful, time consuming college essay. Why some push it off is beyond me, but a little bit each day will save you loads of time in your senior year.

Seniors, understand this: whatever you’ve got right now, that’s what you have to submit. Your freshman year English class grade can’t be fixed and you can’t suddenly squeeze in 1,000 community service hours. Accept that, and ease the stress.

Senior year has been pretty awesome so far, and I can definitely say that being prepared for the college application rush has allowed me to stay out later and more often. Enjoy the time you have left with your friends, because after graduation, everything is going to change.

Senior Stress – Argh!
by Olivia Berardi

I’m sure that I am not alone in thinking that senior year should be easier, more fun, and less anxiety provoking. However, as many of us have found out, this really doesn’t seem to be the case.

Of course we knew there was going to be some stress from applying to colleges, and maybe it was naive to think this, but I did not expect it to be this much stress. From supplemental essays to answering every Common App and non-Common App question, applications seem to be taking an excruciatingly long time. And following the completion of the applications, there will be the waiting time and having to keep up with schoolwork in our current classes…it’s enough to drown us.

It is logical that we still need to work in our classes, and we should, but to balance that work along with sports and jobs and all of our extra-curricular activities, there just aren’t enough hours in a day to get everything done and stay sane at the same time.

Is this the fun we’d all heard about?