High school students are stressed when it comes to applying to college.

For seniors all around the country, the stress is at an all time high around this time of year due to the pressure of applying to college. This is because students need to have teacher recommendation letters, figure out which colleges to apply to, write their college essays, take the SATs or ACTs, go on college visits and much more.

A study by the University of Purdue found that 45% of students said they experience “more than average stress,” and 87% said they felt overwhelmed by all they had to do at least once in the previous year, according to the American College Health Association-2017 National College Health Assessment.

Several students from Emerson Jr./Sr. High School took time out of their day to answer some questions about the stress of applying to college. 

When asked if he was stressed about college and why, Giovanni Ramaci responded, “Yes, I’m stressed because there’s not as much time as everyone thinks, and I don’t know where I want to go. It’s just a lot. 

Next, when asked how long he has been working on applying to college and how it is going, he said, “I’ve been working on college stuff for a while now and the stress is basically the same.” 

When asked for any tips on making the process of applying to college less painful Ramaci said, “Get good grades and start looking at colleges earlier. That will make your life a lot easier.”

The next student, Aidan Desalvo, when asked the first question said, “No, I’m not stressed because I already know I’m going to Bergen my first two years then transferring.” 

Next, when asked the second question his response was, “I didn’t spend much time because I already made my decision to go to Bergen.” 

When asked the third question, Aidan said, “The best thing to do is to not wait until the last minute and make a decision that benefits you with your life, not just because you want to go and have fun.”

The last student from Emerson Jr. Sr. High School, Logan Mazzeo, when asked the first question said, “I’m not stressed because I have a scholarship for sports but I can tell if I didn’t have a scholarship I would definitely be stressed out right now about applying to college.” 

Next, when the student was asked the second question, Mazzeo’s response was, “I didn’t spend much time on college stuff. I only looked at the one college that I got a scholarship from. 

When the student was asked the last question his response was, “Some tips would be to stick with your sport if you play a sport and put yourself out there because you never know what can happen and you could do that for anything, not just sports.”

High school students are clearly stressed when it comes to applying to college. There are so many heavy decisions for the student and family to make that will impact the student for the rest of his or her life.