It’s that time of the year again: college application season. Students across the country are searching for schools that they would like to attend, applying to them, and hoping for good outcomes. At Southside High School, the seniors are feeling the pressure.

Starting after the last day of school, many students began to feel anxious about applying to college. Applications consist of several different stressors: the daunting personal essay, extracurriculars, standardized test scores, and countless other things. Seniors Marco Castro and Alina Alam have been working hard to perfect their applications. 

“My standardized test scores,” Castro reports, as the most nerve-wracking part of the application process. 

These scores consist of the ACT, SAT, as well as any and all AP test scores. Many schools not only admire students for having great test scores, but also award them with scholarships. The higher scores you have, the better chance of acceptance, but also higher scholarships. Understandably, these can make students anxious, as Castro and several other Southside seniors reflect.

Along with stress, there is relief. Many students find relief in hanging out with friends or maybe playing sports. Castro states his best way to ease his anxiety is simply by pushing it away. Alam suggests a different approach and says studying distracts her from the pressure of applying. These efforts are, of course, only to relieve the stress. For now, it will always be something on seniors’ minds.

As stressful and tiring as applying can be, the outcome of getting into college and beginning the steps to your future is beyond rewarding. All of the tears, effort, late-night studying sessions, ACT practice tests, and celebratory 7Brew runs will be worth it.