By Chase Wilson ’17

As senior year comes around and college application deadlines approach rapidly, student anxiety also is quickly rising, and for an understanbable reason. Perhaps unrealistically, seniors want the college application process to go perfectly. Any snag or delay has the potential to put a tense senior over the edge.

Take senior Ade Adeola’s situation this year, for example. She was being proactive and requested that her SAT test scores be sent to her desired college on October 4, almost a full month before her school’s priority deadline of November 1 and yet College Board did not send Adeola’s scores until October 31.

“I don’t understand why [College Board] waits so long. Right before I saw my scores were sent, I was literally in tears because I thought all the work I put into my application was for nothing,” said Adeola.

The counseling office tries to organize the college application process to minimize student stress. Every year, counselors host an informational meeting for the purpose of educating students on the college application process. They provide handouts with the details of how and when to apply. One such handout states that students must turn in all required forms at least three weeks before their college’s deadline. The head of counseling, Elizabeth Al-Atrash, deals with the applicants directly and says that in the cases where the counseling or registrar’s office do not get the application to the desired school on time, it is usually because the applicants turn in their request forms extremely late.

In spite of this, seniors frequently turn their pent-up anxiety towards the counseling department and registrar’s office. A common complaint is that forms are not sent to schools more quickly after enough students turn them to the registrar. Students must understand that counselors write recommendations for almost every student, in addition to their daily work activities, so on some days they will have more time to complete forms for students than on other days.

Juniors looking to ease the stress of various college applications should try attending the workshops sponsored by the counselors on the subject held every summer. Counselors give many tips about applications and help students prepare. The workshops are an important service Sherwood is providing to students and should be taken advantage of. Seniors should remember to monitor the status of their requests and their documents reviewed as their application deadlines approach.