To be blunt, the seemingly-endless process of applying for colleges and scholarships sucks. Writing countless essays, filling out personal information you’ve never needed to use or know and submitting recommendations is tiring. It seems to never end your senior year. It’s been a complete and utter nightmare since the beginning and will not end until I’ve reached the end of my academics. My once creative and productive brain is now fried.

However, I have learned quite the lesson from this overall hellish experience.

Freshmen, you’ve just begun, but it’s never too early to at least consider your future and what it takes to graduate and move on. I noticed applying for a copious amount of colleges and scholarships that every little thing you do in high school counts. I know it’s annoying to hear nearly every teacher ramble on about how important school activities are, but it’s very true. If you don’t listen to them, at least hear me out. If you are serious about college, take up as many volunteer or after school activities as you can. You more than likely will not have as much time later on in high school.

Sophomores, you are almost halfway there, but don’t give up. For me, sophomore year was the most boring one. I was separated from my friends in every class, had all new teachers and classes were only just starting to get interesting. For some people, including me at some point, high school can seem like a mere waiting room for the real deal: college. It’s easy to forget that you actually need high school to get into college.

Juniors, I’m really sorry. Junior year is inarguably the hardest year of high school to ever come across our schedule. It’s the year to knock all of your electives yet at the same time it’s the year to finish your required subjects. For this reason, please don’t overwork and overload yourself. You will burn out really fast. I’m going to be honest here, but I was one of those unfortunate kids to burn out first semester junior year. I took five AP classes, played in orchestra, had a demanding role in newspaper and worked four days a week. I ended up quitting my job later on and my performance level in my classes went down. I wish someone was there for me to tell me it was too much, so I hope that for those people that feel as if they are on the brink of burning out, they get my message that it’s okay to let go of unnecessary stress and demands. Don’t worry though, it will all be worth it. This year will also look very good for applications.

Lastly, seniors, I understand. Going into second semester makes me rethink my academic career every single day. Do I have to come to school? Is 7:05 more of a suggestion? Can it just be over already? Can I maybe just not graduate? I’m not actually serious, since I’ve come this far. It would be flat-out stupid for me to quit now (right?). Senioritis aside, us seniors have almost reached our futures as functioning adults, and the wait is looming over us. It can be exciting at times and worrisome at others, but the way this unbearingly-slow time left of school goes depends on what we do and what attitude we have. We have 118 days until May 24th. Let’s make this semester worth it: it’s our last.