Application season is in full swing, with most early action deadlines having passed. This is an exciting time for high school seniors, but it’s also the most stressful time in a senior’s high school career from having to sum up all of their extracurricular activities in 150 characters to writing a 650 word essay about who they are as a person to send off to the college of their dreams without ever meeting the people who are deciding their future. No one can deny that being a high school senior in the application season is difficult.

According to a poll conducted by The National Association for College Admission Counseling, out of 1,000 students polled more than half of them said applying to college was the most stressful academic experience they’ve had.

At DGS some students agree. Senior Addy Phillips felt that making sure everything was in before the deadline was the most stressful thing.

“The most stressful part of the college application process was making sure I had all my volunteer hours, extracurricular activities and classes in before the deadline and then staying on top of all the different deadlines was the most stressful part,” Phillips said.

Senior Megan Majchowicz agreed with Phillips. She felt that the college admission process was so stressful because of all the information needed and how quickly it all had to be done.

“It was so stressful because there was so much to fill out with not a lot of time and little help,” Majchrowicz said.

For students the weeks leading up to the early action deadlines-which 13% of students applied for in the 2022-2023 school year according to the Common App-are very busy with the looming early action deadline for most colleges being Nov. 1. College and Career counselor Dan Mustari explained the benefits of early action are showing the colleges that as an incoming freshman you’re serious about the college.

“By doing early action you’re letting the college know that you’re serious about going there, you’re reviewed prior to everyone else. So the people that apply early action are given the spots [at the college] prior to the other students who apply, and because there are a limited number of spots on campuses your chances of getting into one of your favorite schools is just more likely with early action,” Mustari said.

However, students feel that they weren’t told about this deadline and therefore it added more stress to their plate. Senior Aleck Galvez felt that he didn’t know about early action until he talked to friends about college.

“It’s not talked about enough because I didn’t really know about [early action] until I talked to a few friends that started college applications before me. I think they can do a better job promoting early action and explaining why it’s important for students to do,” Galvez said.

Majchrowicz agreed with Galvez that she didn’t know about early action until too late resulting in her getting help outside of school.

“It wasn’t really pressed into us [early action and applying for college] until a week or two before, because of this I got help outside of school,” Majchrowicz said.

Majchrowicz’s mom Vanessa Majchrowicz explained that she reached out to a family friend to help Megan Majchrowicz navigate the application process. Vanessa Majchrowicz did this because she wanted to give her daughter the best chance at success with her applications.

“I used a friend of mine who specializes in college counseling; she is someone who has known Megan for a very long time and I trusted her and knew she would know how to work with Megan. We did this over the summer leading into her senior year, since her high school counselor would not have been available…Since they have a history, it just felt best to stay with her, having an outside person who with Megan and having Megan actually ask to work with her really forced Megan to take the process seriously and meet the due dates,” Vanessa Majchrowicz said.

Private counseling isn’t an uncommon thing for families to do. According to the Independent Educational Consultant Association, 26% of high achieving high school students claim to have used a private counselor to help them with the college process including the SAT. However, for many students this isn’t always an option, making resources like the DGS College and Career Center a vital place for the success of students. Phillips explained how she relied heavily on the College and Career Center when it came to her applications.

“I’m in College and Career all the time because they’re really helpful if I have questions about my applications because sometimes they [the applications] include confusing questions and going and speaking with a counselor in College and Career really helps me navigate the tough questions,” Phillips said.

For Mustari, the student experience Phillips had is what they strive for. With the center being one of three offices located in the commons, Mustari wanted the College and Career room to feel welcoming. To do this he implemented the open door policy this year as a way to offer more aid to the students and create a more welcoming community.

“We want to make sure that students feel welcome…so we tried to do an open door policy during lunches for part of the semester where students can come in and ask those questions and get help with whatever they need to make sure that it gets done,” Mustari said.

All in all, to alleviate the stress that so many students experience, Mustari explained students must be on top of their deadlines in order to make their application process the least stressful.

“Being on top of things, setting a schedule, being organized, being mindful of deadlines and knowing what the requirements are for each college that you’re applying for. Setting personal deadlines of when you want certain materials in,” Mustari said.

However, this process shouldn’t start on Aug. 16. Brainstorming college lists, making activities lists and even starting to write your personal statement are all steps in the application process that should happen before senior year starts according to the College Board.

However, Megan Majchrowicz feels that starting application work before senior year started wasn’t shared with her.

“I think starting planning my applications last year would have helped me be less stressed this year; however, while the school pushed little steps, the big information surrounding my applications weren’t shared with me until my senior year which didn’t help me stay ahead,” Megan Majchrowicz said.

Phillips thinks Megan Majchrowicz concern could be fixed with the school taking a more active role in student applications, and she does understand that they provide many voluntary opportunities but feels that there isn’t enough.

“The school should have a more active role in helping students with their applications. Yes, they do have so many voluntary opportunities to help with the application process; however, if you’re unable to attend them or they fill up too quickly, you become stuck and confused. I think that there should be more ACCESS lessons or more mandatory counselor visits to provide more guidance,” Phillips said.

Mustari explained that school provides the information but it’s always a work in progress. Now, Mustari is trying to use social media as another way to have students get the necessary information for their applications.

“We send out reminders via the announcements, social media…the social media is just another way to put things out there and to make sure that everyone can hear and know what’s going on and having those reminders as often as possible is critical for a stress-less application season,” Mustari said.

With the next steps being filing for FAFSA, getting acceptances and participating in Decision Day, the 2025 senior class has begun finishing a large portion of their college application process, with so many students meeting the early action deadlines they’ve been able to have a stress-less rest of the semester as the next steps are fastly approaching. Galvez explained applying early action and hearing back for colleges really has helped him get through this stressful time.

“Since I applied early action I felt I didn’t have to stress too much about deadlines, and now having heard back from five colleges since I applied early, I’m less stressed about the application process than I would be if I waited to apply,” Galvez said.