College comes with an enormous amount of feelings from the different people who are approaching this stage of life. Feelings range from excitement to being completely terrified. There is no question though; thinking about college is stressful, from the application process to waiting for the acceptance letters.

It begins in senior… no wait, junior year of high school. When the guidance counselors start to emphasize the SATs and attending college fairs, things begin to change. All of a sudden the carefree days of freshman and sophomore years are gone and its time to kick it into second gear and move it along. The application process is tricky: picking a major, finding colleges that offer your major, writing all those essays, accurately completing the applications, and the expense of it all. All this occurs and you are one year away from college, a place where dreams are created and sometimes shattered, a place where hopefully boys become men and girls become women.

There is the grace period between application deadlines and awaiting acceptance letters, where there is time to relax and think about what the college experience will be like. Then it’s back to schoolwork, after-school jobs for some and family obligations. And before you know it, the time rolls around when colleges are sending out their letters of acceptance… or rejection. This is the most stressful part of it all; the waiting is excruciating. The 50% chance of being rejected seems so much larger than the other 50% of getting accepted. Then you get your first acceptance letter and the stress subsides; it is a rollercoaster of emotions.

Having gone through this, my advice is to be prepared for what is coming. Build up the extra-curricular activities from freshman year, take the PSATs and SATs early, research colleges in the spring of your junior year, visit colleges in the summer and start applying to colleges as soon as possible. Oh, one more thing, when you are working on your applications, try your very best to be thorough and do not give up. Never give up on what you believe in, opportunity is everywhere.