Completing the College Application Process

Saneil Kumar, Writer

College applications are finally over. Our class of 2024 juniors are next. Our seniors for this year have applied to many colleges. One of the seniors, Hana Krogh, was interviewed by Saneil Kumar asking her questions about the application process. Hana is a bright, shining star student. She is super respectful and is always on top of her work. She knows how to manage her time wisely.

I asked Hana what the process looked like to apply to college, “On a scale of 1-10, how difficult was the application process?”

She replied, “I would rate the application process a 7. There is a lot of time and effort required for applications, especially when it comes to essays. You need to ensure that all of the information on your application is correct, so that part was stressful. But thankfully, the counselors help you through the process. Overall, as long as you don’t procrastinate and utilize the help from your teachers, the process should go smoothly.” The biggest challenge that she faced was underestimating the amount of time it would take to write college essays. She said she would recommend that juniors start thinking about their college choices and look at required essays. Brainstorming beforehand and having a general idea of what you want to write about will help you in the long run. She wanted to make sure that my essays accurately conveyed who I was as a person, not just another nameless applicant. She definitely spent a lot of time with the counselors so they could review and help edit my essays.

As a senior, as well, I would also rate the application process a 7. It can be overwhelming at times, but you just have to get everything done in a timely manner.

Hana Krogh is applying to many colleges, but her top choice is UC Davis as a Computer Science major. She would love to go to UC Davis because it is a college town. Her older brother goes there and she loves the sense of community and how most places are within a bikeable distance. She would definitely recommend this college for people who love biking and are focusing on a major in biology/animal science. Another college she has been interested in is San Jose State University. With the location being in Silicon Valley and my major being in Computer Science, she would have more ease finding internships and jobs. Though there is a lot of competition, she’s heard that there are many internships and job fairs constantly going on, which allows many students opportunities. She definitely has her options open and will make her decision wisely.

Hana tells me that she chose Computer Science after a lot of thinking. For many years, she has known what she wanted to major in, and she is finally able to apply to college with that major. She has so much love for math and an interest in technology. This way, she can incorporate both of these into my daily life with her job. Lastly, scholarships are a big thing seniors must do when going to college. Scholarships are free money awarded to students that meet specific criteria. Hana tells me that goingmerry and bold.org are two good sites for scholarships. There are many more websites, but these are the main two sites.

Now that the class of 2023 has applied to college, they are slowly getting their college decisions in. Now, it is time for the Class of 2024 to start deciding what they want to do with their career. Slowly but surely, that time will be here when they will be sitting in college readiness with Mr. Mueller and our counselors, deciding what colleges they will be applying to.