Senior year was supposed to be a grind, then a victory lap. I’d completed several applications to schools, rewrote essays 'til they were unrecognizable, and poured through AP Lit readings. Then I crashed. Hard. Here are some of the things I wish I had known beforehand:

Start essays early, finish them messy

I rewrote my Cornell supplement seven times. The fifth iteration was grammatically flawless and also completely sterile; every unexpected sentence and phrase was “fixed” to sound like it could have been written by anyone. I reverted to my third draft. The messier one. The one that sounded like me. Here's what I wish someone had told me: there's no such thing as a perfect essay, but there are essays where you polish your voice right out of existence.

The money talk nobody wants to have

College applications aren’t just about “cracked” stats and excellent essays; the financial portion is something many prospective students overlook. Run the NPC (net price calculator) for every school you’re applying to so you don’t get any punches to the gut. I ran the NPC, which helped. What I didn’t expect was tax statements to decode, forms arriving late, and deadlines clustering. I lost hours to paperwork when I was already drowning. Start this process as soon as CSS and FAFSA open. Gather documents even before that. Your stressed-out January self will thank you.

Find your people  

What do you love to do? Maybe it’s basketball, or cello, or painting. Beyond rankings and academics, do the schools you’re applying to have the clubs, niche teams, and communities where you want to spend your free time? Your hobbies are your lifeline in college. When researching, I looked up whether Cornell had orchestras that allowed you to play music or write creatively because you loved doing it, not because you’re necessarily an expert at it. The detail mattered more than I expected; I found my strongest connections there. (Nobody told me this mattered for essays too; origami and orchestra aren’t off-topic just because I’m not an arts or music major. These do not distract from your application; they are your application.)

Pace yourself, or pay for it later

By February, after numerous finals, competitions, paperwork, and applications, I couldn’t make myself care about anything. Creative writing club meetings? I missed them to take naps. I still enjoyed orchestra concerts but it felt more like an obligation than it did in October. Remember there are months of more exams and homework, yes, but also club meetings, prom, and graduation trips. There’s no helicopter pickup after your hike up the summit. Your legs still have to be ready to climb down.

Don’t become a hermit

While it may be tempting to lock yourself in your room during application season, your family, friends, and hobbies are exactly what you need more of during periods of stress, not less of. Being relaxed and connected will help your productivity levels more than a couple extra hours of daily grinding. My instinct during stress has always been to disappear, practice alone, grind in isolation, and prove myself through suffering. The weeks I handled applications alone were brutal. The weeks I showed up to rehearsals and let myself be distracted were the weeks of true productivity.

You’ll make mistakes senior year. You’ll likely overwrite and underestimate deadlines. That’s okay. Don’t aim to be perfect. Aim to make it through with your sanity, relationships, and foster a genuine excitement for college. Take care of yourself. You’re almost there!