It’s October, and for seniors, the college application process has officially taken over. What was once distant and abstract suddenly feels like a full-time job. Deadlines, essays, and endless forms all demand attention. The stress doesn’t come from a single assignment or exam, but from the constant, overlapping pressures of performance and uncertainty. Students must manage not only their current coursework but also the emotional weight of decisions that seem to define their futures.
Much of the anxiety stems from how the process is structured. Each step—crafting the perfect personal statement, choosing the right extracurriculars to highlight, or interpreting what “holistic admissions” actually means, requires self-marketing skills most teenagers are still learning. The opaque nature of college admissions adds to the tension; even strong students feel powerless in a system that seems unpredictable and subjective.
Social comparison intensifies the stress. Group chats and hallway conversations revolve around test scores, essay progress, and early decision choices. Students feel pressure not only to apply, but to apply better than everyone else. For many, it becomes less about self-discovery and more about strategic presentation.
“College applications are hard and time consuming, they really stress me out,” said senior Dante Caicedo.
Schools try to offer support through counselors and workshops, but the timeline itself, especially for early deadlines, makes real balance difficult. By October, exhaustion sets in.
“First quarter has been treacherous struggling to meet deadlines between assignments and applications,” said senior Marcella Morello.
The process rewards organization and persistence, but it also exposes the growing culture of academic competition that defines modern high school life.
In theory, college applications are meant to help students reflect on who they are and what they want. In practice, they often highlight how stressed, overextended, and uncertain they’ve become. The process may prepare senniors for the rigor of college, but it also raises a larger question: should the road to higher education really feel this overwhelming?
Ultimately, the stress surrounding college applications reveals a larger flaw in how success is defined for students. The focus on admissions results overshadows genuine learning and curiosity, the very qualities colleges claim to value. Until the process shifts from one of performance to one of purpose, seniors each fall will continue to find themselves caught in a system that demands more than it teaches.
