hiya! i saw your post offering help for juniors doing their college search. i just finished my junior year, and i'm spending my day doing college/scholarship searches… it's kind of crazy. how did you get through it?? thanks in advance! :)
hi friend! this is a little late, so i do apologize. i definitely had a rough time of my senior year, but i figured out a few ways to make it more manageable:
pace yourself. there's a million things due january first (for example), and it's a lot less stressful if you do a little work every night for a month and a half instead of working non-stop for four days to get it all done.
always have a plan. if you're doing college searches in the june after your junior year, you seem to have this down! make sure you write down every deadline and give yourself a timeline. making spreadsheets is a great way to do this.
prioritize. you don't need to apply to 20 colleges. pick 2-3 dream schools, 3-5 schools that you like and have a reasonable chance at, and 2-3 safeties. MAXIMUM.
know your financial options. idk your financial status, but regardless, you need to figure out which schools will give you the aid you need and which ones definitely won't. do NOT waste your time applying to schools that won't give you adequate financial aid. do your research -- ask around, call schools' financial aid office and ask about their loan policies, google your questions. quick tip: usc and nyu almost certainly won't nearly enough aid.
know that you're not alone. EVERYONE is struggling with this, so don't feel like you're struggling because you're lazy/unprepared/unintelligent. you're not any of those things, and you CAN do it.
remember what you're working towards. this year will be hard, but the payoff will be worth it. just think about where you'll be and what you'll be doing this time next year.
