Senior’s struggle to apply

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By Jillian McClure

After receiving dozens of pamphlets, Kimberly Jarchow, senior, flips through her college mail from the last six months. (Photo courtesy of Kimberly Jarchow)
After receiving dozens of pamphlets, Kimberly Jarchow, senior, flips through her college mail from the last six months. (Photo courtesy of Kimberly Jarchow)

In a Google search for “stresses of applying to college,” there are dozens of articles geared to helping those buried by college application stress. All of the how-to articles, five reasons why you shouldn’t stress lists, and 10 tips to manage stress show that the struggles of applying to college are becoming more prevalent.

Kimberly Jarchow, senior, applied to two colleges already with plans of applying to three more. Since the beginning of summer, Jarchow immersed herself in research on college websites. Hidden under piles of postcards from colleges and an email inbox full of university spam mail, she began her descent into the unknown.

“At first, choosing the colleges was really overwhelming, because it caused a lot of anxiety attacks. I was thinking about how much I had to do and how busy I was. I didn’t think I was going to get anything done,” Jarchow said.

After sifting through hundreds of colleges, she narrowed down her choices to five.

“I looked at the environments and the student body,” Jarchow said. “I had to take my time. It was hard, because I had to think about what I really wanted to do, and I had to narrow down those choices before I could even look at colleges.”

Checklists for applying to college are pages long. Students need recommendation letters, well-written essays, standardized test scores, transcripts, immunization records, and numerous other documents to apply.

Jarchow’s school counselor, Angela Cordova, guided her through the application process.

“Kim doesn’t need any help in organization. She is very organized,” Cordova said. Because of Jarchow’s dedication and preparedness, Cordova wrote one of her recommendation letters.

“For someone like Kim, she will give me her application a month in advance and give me plenty of time,” Cordova said.

After paying an average of fifty dollars per application, Jarchow wrote six essays. So far, she has been accepted at Northern Arizona University.

“It was really exciting because it felt real. It felt like this is actually happening and that I am going to college now. No matter what, I am going somewhere,” Jarchow said. “It was like that little push I needed to apply to the rest of them, because it was like I can actually go out and do something.”

For Jarchow, her first step before she gathered everything she needed to apply was to look at when the applications were due.

“Coffee was involved. [I had] a lot of sleepless nights worrying and working on college applications,” Jarchow said.

She will have all of her applications submitted by the first of January, so after over six months of work, she will be finished stressing over deadlines and paperwork alongside a senior year workload.

“It is kind of difficult, because it is hard to remember all of the things that I need to do during school. On top of homework and all of my extra-curriculars, having to worry about applying to college is just one more thing on top of everything else,” Jarchow said.

Outside of school, Jarchow keeps her plate full with extra-curricular activities and a job, in order to impress colleges looking for that WOW factor.

“I would definitely [say] focus on grades and focus on what you really want to do in your life, because if you really involve yourself in extra-curricular activities that not only highlight what your passions are, but also help you become a more well-rounded person, then it’s going to look a lot better in college applications. It is going to be a lot easier to start looking for what college you want to go to,” Jarchow said.

As a counselor who helps students daily, Cordova suggests that students don’t overwhelm themselves.

“I think really organization is key and just keeping [the stress] so that you can handle it, not overwhelming yourself with it,” Cordova said.

Parents also play a part in many senior’s road to admission. Jarchow’s mom encouraged her to push through the lazy teen phase and work hard to get into the colleges that she dreamed about.

“My mom was always pushing me to keep my grades up and to be thinking about what I wanted to do in college, and that really set the stage for me to actually go and apply to those places,” Jarchow said.

Cordova also feels that parents can be helpful while their students apply to college.

“It really helps to have the support of parents. It is hard to maintain all your schoolwork, your part-time jobs, your athletics, whatever else you are involved in, and all the scholarship stuff,” Cordova said.

Deadlines for applications are approaching. As the reality for seniors sets in, students leaf through the twenty plus pamphlets they received every week for months. Kimberly Jarchow and other prepared students are ready for what applying to college truly means–getting accepted and actually going.

“I am really ready. It is scary. It is terrifying. But it is also really exciting at the same time,” Jarchow said.