By Leo Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
The college application process often turns exciting, discouraging, nerve-wracking and downright mystifying. As arduous as it is, though, the frenzy of picking schools, writing essays, and doing paperwork before the year ends is a great opportunity to reflect on past achievements and look forward to a clean slate.
To be totally honest, today is the deadline I set for myself to submit my Early Decision application, and I am exhausted. On the other hand, it means that I will have time to start the UC application early, and I now have my main Common Application writing section done. So the first moral of the story is time management, and the thing to do is start early.
Given that it is October already, it is pretty late in the game to be doing that. In my short experience with the application process, though, the best cure for procrastination is to get excited about where that application is going. The more of a school’s website and publications I read and the more research I do, the more I want to be there and the more motivated I am to work toward that.
The college application process and the whole idea of moving beyond high school are daunting, but also present the opportunity to consider the direction one wants to go professionally as well as personally. As much as senior year is a time for stepping back from the maelstrom of activities and classes that consume the first three years of high school, it is also a time to make critical decisions about the future.
At the same time, it is impossible to consider future careers, potential majors and other efforts further down the road without some introspection on the journey thus far.
The more that I think about where I want to go, the more it forces me to reflect on who I have become over the last three years and how high school has shaped me. The severity of senioritis varies across campus on a case-by-case basis, but as much as the most eager senior wants to leave Mira Costa, it is impossible not to think about how we have changed during our tenures as Mustangs.
In addition to an API score among the best in the state, seniors have a lot to be thankful for. Costa is a place defined by the communities that it consists of. From the arts and academic classes to sports and extracurriculars, the stories of our high school careers are told in the experiences we have had in these activities, ones that have hopefully oriented us to what it is we will make of the rest of our lives.
So as seniors trudge through the process of neglecting their academic studies during the day and frantically working on applications by night, we need to remember that we still have a few precious months left to burn as brightly as we can. And juniors: where are you applying again?
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