With most regular decision applications beginning to close, many students have started to stress about being accepted into colleges. However, students who applied using early action have already started to get results back, and are beginning to make college decisions and reflect on the application process.
According to senior Nora Olson, when she weighed the pros and cons of applying early action versus regular decision, she decided that there were more options available for applying earlier.
“Applying early action allowed for a little bit of a backup plan, in case I got deferred,” Olson said. “I can reapply for a regular decision, as well as some scholarships (that) are only given to early action students, (and we) get access to resources earlier.”
According to science teacher Julie Schilz, who wrote 15 letters of recommendation with 90 percent being early action, writing recommendation letters early in the year was stressful, but ultimately beneficial.
“It always takes some time to regroup in the school year and early action letters are due two weeks after that. It is a lot,” Schilz said. “But I would rather them just be done at once because I’m a huge procrastinator. I would prefer to just have to sit down and do them all.”
According to senior James Dwyer, who has already committed, having applied early has eased pressure about college for the rest of the year.
“It relieves a lot of stress because you know so much earlier, you’re done with your applications earlier, so then it’s just about deciding what school you’re going to,” Dwyer said.
In Park Connections, students are taught about the college application process starting very early on in high school. Schilz said that even though Park Connections can be helpful in helping kids apply to college, these lessons may be offered too quickly.
“I feel like sometimes, things that are done in Park Connections can be really good, but the students aren’t at the point where they want to take them seriously,” Schilz said. “So then they get to the point where (they realize), ‘wow, that stuff we were supposed to do in Connections that nobody paid attention to probably would have been helpful, but I wasn’t in the headspace to care about it at that point.’”
Although most early decisions have been sent out, some students are still waiting to hear back from colleges — specifically, UW Madison, who many kids from Park have applied to, and is suspected to send out their decisions at the end of the month. According to Olson, her other decisions are riding on a response from one school.
“I’ve heard back from all of them, except for Madison,” Olson said. “So I haven’t made any decisions — I’m waiting for Madison.”
