For many, fall only means crunchy leaves and pumpkin spice lattes, but for high school SENIORS it means an unparalleled amount of stress as college application deadlines loom over their heads.

Tens of thousands of applications roll into a college or university every year. It seems that every college claims they want to get to know the “real you,” but it’s commonly perceived that test scores and transcripts play a great role in determining whether a person is admitted to an institution or not.

When every student is represented by semester letter grades and a 1600 or 36 point scale, it is a struggle as to how a person’s true character can shine through. Many students’ grades are affected by their personal lives, and, as SENIOR Abigail Neurhor said, “my grades do not reflect how academically smart I am,” but that is often impossible to get across through a simple transcript.

“I wish they would get to know the personality and dreams and goals of the students,” SENIOR Gabrielle Phillips said.

A remedy for this is the personal essay requirement, but even that has its limitations. Six hundred and fifty words is a small amount to represent all facets of an individual.

“The process is synthetic. Unless there is more in person/real life interactions with admission, the college is missing a large part of who you are,” SENIOR Dhruv Rungta said.

These problems are at the front of every college applicant’s mind. How do you stand out? Will I make the cut? Am I the type of student they’re looking for? Which extracurriculars are most appealing? It can be a draining process, and is only multiplied with every college a person applies to. In addition, many students have other responsibilities that need to be completed on top of college applications, such as school work, extracurriculars and jobs.

“They give me physical panic attacks,” SENIOR Mackienzee Rasheed said about her college applications.

Nevertheless, college applications need to be done, no matter how flawed or time-consuming it may be. In this day and age, a college education is vital when it comes to having a successful career in many cases, and the quality of that education can very well affect the rest of a person’s life.

On top of this, college and or university can be the largest financial decision a person makes in their lifetime. That is a lot of pressure to put on a teenager, many of whom are barely legal adults.

Disclaimer: In the interest of transparency, SENIOR Mackienzee Rasheed is a staff member of the WHHS Chatterbox