As September comes around, seniors at Niles West are beginning to attend football games, get ready for Homecoming, panic about progress report cards, oh and you can’t forget about applying for college. Senior Jessica Daczo gave her opinion on what the most exciting and stressful parts of the college application process is for her.

“I think the most stressful part about the college application process would be starting to fill out your applications and sending the required scores and grades while balancing school work. Both take up a lot of time, but then you have to decide which one is your priority. The most exciting part would have to be imagining all of the possibilities that you would have with your college of choice and what your future might look like if you attended the college you’ve been admitted to,” said Daczo.

Seniors have been thrown into the world of college admissions where they begin to learn about the Common Application, FAFSA, essays, letters of recommendations, and college tours. What seems like the hardest process is a reality check for most of us who now have understood that life is going to be filled with more responsibilities that our parents won’t be babying us through, and instead we’ll be taking the steps on our own to accomplish it.

College counselor, Daniel Gin, gave the seniors some words of wisdom and answer questions about the admissions process.

“There are two things that I’ve seen be intimidating for Seniors. The first would be the essay, because it’s their first time being open and deciding what personal story would wow their admissions counselors, as well as give them their identity that the grades and scores won’t show.The final one would be hitting submit because you’re left with the wonders of, is it finished and is it perfect?,” said Gin.

With that being said, Mr. Gin advises the seniors to get their applications started earlier by making a basic list of their priority universities so they don’t have to make last minute choices on which schools to apply to. By making a list there’s organization and commitment. If you still aren’t sure what universities are looking for Mr. Gin gave us a quick outlook on what admission counselors are mainly looking at.

“Universities are mainly looking at the quality a student has. That means they’re mainly focusing on their grades, what classes they have taken, and are [currently] taking.”

So if you’ve already developed senioritis, think again because colleges are definitely looking at your grades as you finish off your senior year. Keep a solid GPA so you can wow those admissions counselors, so they see that you’re ready for the work load of college.

After applying don’t let your guards down yet, remember that great thing called, FAFSA? The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a form that can be prepared annually by current and prospective college students in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.

“Keep the date January 1st 2015 engraved in your head. That’s when students are able to start applying, but no later than February 15th,” said Gin.

 Going to college is a big step, after applying you might be puzzled on what to consider when deciding where to go.

“The thoughts that should be racing in your head when deciding which college to go to are, what university will you be happy at, what’s in your budget, and where will you be successful.”

Make sure to take those steps to visit universities, sit with a college representative and your admissions counselor so you can see and know how it feels to be on the campus you’d be at for four years. Like Mr. Gin said, you should feel happy about your choice and know you’ll be successful.

With all the stress, hard work, and patience comes the excitement of knowing what college you’ll be attending for your next four years. Gin said that though applying for college was a pressing time, college was also a very rewarding experience for him.

“I think it was the freedom. You become an adult and you finally decide what you want to do with your life, what your first major will be, it’s all decision making that you’re in control of,” he said.

So take it easy, seniors, and stay on top of the application process.