The time has come for seniors to send in applications to colleges they are interested in attending. We all know the stress high school can put on a student. Throwing college applications into the mix for seniors can be a bit overwhelming, but thankfully help from Nazareth’s counselors is readily available. The 200 seniors going through this process have been prepared by the Guidance Department beginning in their junior year through seminars, workshops, and of course one-on-one appointments.
Mrs. Gurney, who has provided generous assistance to a total of 133 students, is happy to be a part of the process. “I love to put a complete college application together that a student has worked so hard on and seeing the end result of them being accepted into a college,” she says encouragingly. “I want success for every single student.”
Even though college applications receive a negative stigma, they often are not as bad as one may think. Seniors Rosemary Benjamin and Cathleen Lucas both agreed in saying that filling out the general information such as phone numbers, addresses, and parents’ names, to name a few.
We had the chance to talk to the following high school seniors at Nazareth Academy about their experiences during the college application process.
Name: Monty Nelson
What parts of the application process have you found to be easy?
Almost none of it. The easiest part for me was actually figuring out what colleges I was going to apply to.
What challenges in applying to colleges have you had?
Nothing too major, now that most places have the online application, it’s just a matter of filling it out. The only catch is that you need to fill it out for every place you apply. Unless you get lucky and most of them are on the common application, then it’s only once.
What was the most difficult question a college asked you on an application? Why?
To write a short response that is under 1000 characters about a topic. Although they gave you choices for your topic, it was pretty challenging to keep it under 1000 characters.
Taking into consideration the whole college application process, how long would you say it took you to complete one application?
After your personal statement and resume are done, it took me about an hour and a half to just complete one.
Was there anyone helping you through the college application process? If so, whom?
Shout out to Mrs. Gurney, thanks so much for being patient with me and my procrastination.
What are some of the colleges you have applied to?
Marquette University, Aurora University, Benedictine, Augustana, Marian University, Roosevelt, and Carthage.
Name: Katie Durnell
What parts of the application process have you found to be easy?
The easiest part was just filling out the applications online. All we had to do was fill in our information.
What challenges in applying to colleges have you had?
The most challenging part of the application process was putting everything together and making sure I did not forget or leave anything out. Overall, the process is given such a bad reputation, but I can honestly say it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
What was the most difficult question a college asked you on an application? Why?
The only question I was asked was “What are your academic strengths and how will they apply to you at our college?” I did not think it was really difficult, but I know some of my friends had difficult questions.
Taking into consideration the whole college application process, how long would you say it took you to complete one application?
One application, honestly, might have a few hours, depending on questions someone might receive. Applying online only took about 20 minutes.
Was there anyone helping you through the college application process? If so, whom?
The guidance department was tremendous help during the application process. I went there about twice a week, if not more.
What are some of the colleges you have applied to?
I applied to Benedictine University, Concordia University, and Lewis University and was accepted from all three. Next year I will be going to Benedictine!
Name: Morgan Borkovec
What parts of the application process have you found to be easy?
The easiest part of the process was for me choosing where to apply. I was already pretty set on a few top schools of where I wanted to go.
What challenges in applying to colleges have you had?
My biggest challenge was writing my college essays. I probably wrote 6 essays before I got it right, and it was so frustrating. There was a point where I went up to guidance every day for two weeks straight and would just sit there and ask Mr. Milos what I could do.
What was the most difficult question a college asked you on an application? Why?
I used the common app, so all the questions were pretty straightforward. What were a bit harder were the supplement questions, especially from Notre Dame. One of them said “You have 150 words. Take a risk.” That’s really difficult because you really don’t know what to say that will grab their attention and make you look your best. You know going into it that you are either going to look really good or really bad to them based on the “risk” you take.
Taking into consideration the whole college application process, how long would you say it took you to complete one application?
Oh boy…for me I guess if I average in some kind of essay writing time it took about 3 hours? I really don’t know, I did it in sections.
Was there anyone helping you through the college application process? If so, whom?
Mr. Milos for sure. He helped me with everything I needed and made sure I was presenting myself in the best way possible.
What are some of the colleges you have applied to?
The colleges I applied to are St. Louis University, Notre Dame, Colorado State, U of I, Dayton, and Marquette.