Advice from a senior

As the year draws to a close, I look back on my past four years here at CVHS. I realize that, despite everything, I’ve yet to leave behind something for my junior, sophomore and freshman friends. This is, I believe, the best thing that I can give you as a graduating senior.

Juniors, this bit of advice is extremely important for you, since this will be something you will have to do next year. With three years already gone, the next step is for you to begin thinking about the dreaded college applications! However, with some simple planning and a bit of foresight, the application process can be significantly easier and less stressful than if you were to leave everything off until the very last moment.

My advice is simply this: start early. If you compile a list of potential colleges and begin writing your application essays this summer, you’ll find that your workload will decrease a great deal during the coming months. It may seem tiring and tedious (I mean, come on! Who wants to write during the summer?), but I advise you to stick with it. From my experience, it made my application process a great deal more manageable.

With this comes the importance of organization. Depending on the number of colleges you plan to apply to, the amount of paperwork and essays you have could number from a half dozen essays, to well over 30 essays, short answers, and paperwork to be filled in. Here, organization becomes a vital skill to have. Keep everything in separate folders and make sure each college has its own. Put any new papers into the respective college’s folder and keep them separate! This way, you won’t need to scramble for a paper or form that you left somewhere.

My final piece of advice involves the dreaded Senioritis that will begin to infect you as the years progress. The symptoms of this deadly disease involve a dramatic increase in procrastination, profound laziness, and a sense of well-being. If you have one or more of these symptoms, you may have already been infected by this disease. The only sure-fire way to ensure that you’ll get into the colleges of your choosing is simply to continue to work hard for the remainder of the time! You’ve already made it this far, another year or so wouldn’t hurt you, right?