Dear Rising Seniors…

The Witherly Heights staff compiled a list of questions that the eleventh graders had about the college application process as the college application season is approaching. 

Q: How much time should you dedicate to writing essays?

1. The personal statement and UC essays will take several months to complete. Start early. Supplemental essays can vary but usually it takes about 2-3 weeks to research, draft, edit, and finalize one essay. 
2. It depends. For some, the concepts or topics for an essay come easily. Some also tend to write faster or better if they are truly interested in the content. Your instructors will tell you: “you should spend x amount of hours to get a good grade” but that is subjective and I will not disservice you by giving a similar answer. Personally, I am a pretty fast writer once I get going so I would just say spend as much time as you need.
3. On average maybe 3-4 hours a week. Not just writing but also introspection, building outlines and really thinking about unique topics.

Q: How early should you start writing college essays?

1. Start the college process around late June or early July of the summer before your 12th grade.
2. August before your Senior Year. Begin with the easy essays (UCs and such) and then start your Common App personal statement. Take your time on this; it can be up to a month and a half but it needs to be really good as this forms the core of your application.
3. Start your personal statement (or at least brainstorming for your personal statement) in June or July. I ended up changing my topic for the personal statement multiple times, 😀 so starting early gives you space to make an essay you actually like and one that you think represents you well. Also it takes some time to figure out the style of writing college essays since it’s so different from academic essays!
4. As soon as possible. If an essay is due in a month, start outline in the first week so you can come up with more ideas until the last week. In the last week work on it every day and use the last few days to proofread and revise. 
5. Start brainstorming at least in the summer and try to work on them weekly starting in September, especially if you are applying early decision/early action. I would recommend writing essays for safety schools first so you have some practice and knowledge on how to write college essays specifically by the time you get to your UC and reach applications. 

Q: Who are the good teachers for Intro to Stats and the CS elective?

1. Stats: J. Rico, Dhupar, Bitzer
2. CS: S. Chenhansa (102, 116, 124, 113 are the best courses to take in order)

Q: How much stress is college admissions?

1. Too much. You can really get inside your own mind about the admissions process. It’s hard but try not to let your self-worth get attached to the admissions game. At the end of all of it, admissions is really just a lottery based on parameters that are largely out of your control. All you can do is work hard, put your best foot forward, and hope for a stroke of luck. Remember, the colleges you get into do not define your value as a person– you can do well at any college, and you can also do poorly at any college. You get out of it what you put in. 
2. It can definitely be a lot because everyone will be trying to force their perspective and opinions on you and you will have that all build up. My advice is to look into what you truly want– What you want to study, find what you’re passionate about, whether that’s looking into certain extracurriculars or explorer programs or different course loads. Don’t go for the default or just what your parents say because it’s your future and it matters the most to you. Also look into which colleges would be the most beneficial for your major and look at campus persona too because sometimes you’ll think you like a college’s curriculum but then find out there is no campus life at all and not want to go there. Also be realistic when looking at colleges– have your dream schools and have some safeties. 
3. It is one of the most stressful parts of high school, probably slightly less than the stress of studying for the SAT/ACT. Make a schedule and block out which weeks you are going to dedicate to write each college’s essays early (around October) and try your best to stick to it! If you are successful at this your stress will be reduced exponentially. 
4. I didn’t have much issue with it since I didn’t have much parental pressure/ I already knew exactly where I wanted to go and what I wanted to study. But I imagine that varies from person to person. 
5. I found it the most stressful and challenging part of high school because of how daunting it is to be making decisions and writing essays for the next four years and the next major educational/life step. Also I wasn’t completely sure where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do so I was really conflicted and it was hard to evaluate all those things in such a short period of time. 

Q: Is it better to apply to many schools or to focus on a few schools?

1. It really depends on your strategy. It’s always a good idea to have a couple safeties, some target schools, and at least one or two reachers, plus UCs and CSUs (regardless of whether you’re aiming for in-state or out-of-state). Beyond that, it’s up to you (with the help of a counselor) to decide if you’re dead set on a particular school, region, size, level of prestige, or indeed any other factor that might influence your decision. The number of colleges you should apply to is very subjective and should ultimately be decided by you.
2. I honestly believe this depends on the person. If you start early and stick to a schedule you will find you can apply to more schools than you think. I personally went for the many schools approach so I wouldn’t have any regrets of not applying to a dream school because I was scared of rejection. This is easier if you have solid template essays you perfect for similar prompts that most schools have like the why essay for a college with a core-curriculum, a why essay for a college with open curriculum, why you are pursuing your major essay, etc. However this is definitely not for everyone and if you have a strong preference of staying in state or going out of state (I did not) you can dedicate more time to having a really strong, unique application for those few schools. 
3. I applied to too many and that definitely reduced the quality of my work, just pick schools you would genuinely want to go to

Q: How important is a college counselor?

1. The process can be done alone but a college counselor helps BIG time. My counselor guided me through all of the steps, helped me with essays, and made the whole process much easier and less stressful. I highly recommend getting one if you can. 
2. Valuable. Get one that you feel comfortable sharing your thoughts with and who pushes you to really tell your story in your essay. Also make sure they’re able to give you proper advice when selecting colleges and courses, etc. 

Q: How stressful was the college application process on a scale of 1-10?

Q: Did you want to stay in-state or go out of state?