College. That is all WCHS seniors have been talking about since school started. With the early action application deadline a month away, the stress has been bad. WCHS has had college representatives visiting the school to speak to students. However, the maximum number of students per visit is 25, and these visits are offered to both 11th and 12th graders.
“It is not fair for seniors who have been waiting for the representatives to come just for there to be no space,” WCHS Senior Annika Shauf said.
The issue is that all 25 spots are being taken by juniors, and that is simply not fair to seniors. Juniors may think they are getting a head start, but in reality, they still have over a year until they start writing their essays and applying to college. Seniors have only a short amount of time, and talking to these representatives can be very helpful to us.
“Applications are due in less than a month and none of the juniors are doing applications until another year,” Shauf said. “Seniors should get priority.”
As seniors approach deadlines for college applications, they may have questions and concerns that would be very helpful to ask reps. This is a crucial time for seniors, as many schools will track demonstrated interest and see who is attending these events. Now, it is not entirely the Juniors’ fault as it is offered to both grades. However many counselors have received complaints that it should only be offered to Seniors who are applying to all these colleges very soon.
“I spoke to my counselor to try to see if I could get in,” WCHS senior Natalia Caetano said. “I understand it is for both seniors and juniors but seniors should be able to have priority, knowing our applications are due in a month.”
For example, the University of Michigan is a very popular school to which many seniors apply. The university is a difficult school to get into with its low acceptance rate of 17.1 percent. and would be very helpful to talk to the representatives. However, the session with the representatives is entirely full of Juniors. Not one senior was able to talk to the Michigan rep because of the capacity being met.
“I really wanted to go to the University of Michigan representative because it is my top school but I was not able to get in because all of the juniors took up all 25 spots,” Shauf said.
At such a high time of stress, seniors should be able to have access to all these resources to help with their stress and mental health of college applications. Instead, this issue just adds another level of stress and anxiety to their very busy schedules. Seniors already have enough worries and this meeting is meant to help them and ask representatives questions. Instead, none of them has this opportunity.
“With applications due in less than a month during this stressful time, we should be able to have priority to help calm some of this stress,” Caetano said.
Counselors should take in the feedback that many seniors have given and either add more opportunities for each college or only allow seniors to attend these sessions.
