As October came to an end, many seniors were able to finally complete their early decision and early action college applications by November 1. Being known as a stressful and time consuming process as the school year just begins, seniors reflected on their experiences.

According to many students interviewed, the decision to apply early comes with a great deal of stress. Senior Rebecca Ortiz said it’s stressful “because you have to get everything [such as financial aid, supplements, and the common app essay] in by the beginning of the year. It can be a lot when you’re getting adjusted to senior year and [if you are a part of] clubs that [are] time consuming.” 

Senior Laura Lu said “[she was] stressed because the deadline was early and didn’t have enough time to do it.” Other students faced obstacles with the application as a whole and not just the timing. Senior Amanda Ip found supplement essays that schools require in addition to the common application to be the most time demanding. “The supplements were really annoying because you’re trying to be unique but it’s hard to be unique,” she said. 

On the other hand, senior Maya Czerkas said the process, “was not as bad as other people made it out to be.” Primarily, her sole issue as she applied through EA to a variety of schools that required supplements, was that she was unaware of some and they eventually accumulated. 

Despite this, there are clear benefits from applying ED as the student is able to complete most applications during the beginning of the school year, making it less stressful. Many further believe that it leads to more experience as you can then reapply in the future. Rebecca said, “if you do regular decision [later on] because you didn’t get accepted through early decision, you already know the process of submitting all your things and already have your financial aid filled out, so it should be easier.” 

For underclassmen who are considering whether or not to apply early when the time comes, Rebecca had the following advice: “I would say if your heart is really into the college and you have a plan for your financial situation, you should do ED because after EA/ED it can get a lot more competitive when it comes to college. Just be sure that it’s what you want to do. I think if you fall in love with the college you should just go for it.” 

Guidance counselor Jeremy Wang said, “If you are actually thinking of applying to a school early, please don’t simply think of the name of the college. You should actually try to understand the college as much because the colleges are looking for students who are a good fit to the school — not just good grades. [That] you have good grades is a given, but how you present yourself, [your experiences] and how much you understand [the college] is what makes you a good fit because [administrators] can read through your supplemental essays and supplemental questions to find out if you actually understood the college.”