Hello Class of 2018, and welcome to potentially the worst 4 months of your life!

I’m just kidding (hopefully), but since the last SAT you’ll probably ever have to take finished about 10 days ago, I figured it’s a good time to write about things I wish I knew when I was applying to college. I wish I could tell you it was an easy process, but it resulted in 3/7 nights a week crying in my room about how I: a.) didn't know what I was going to do with my life, b.) don't know how I can adult when I still sleep with a stuffed alpaca on my bed, and c.) will be failing my SAT and 4 APs and ACT that I all had to deal with in the span of 6 weeks. Here's an actual picture of my every emotion from September to November (pls excuse EVEREST that was on my forehead at the time because I break out when I'm stressed):

So trust me, I know the emotions. Here's what I wish I knew 12 months ago when I was in your shoes.

1. The average admissions officer looks at your application for about 10 minutes.

Understandably too, because they probably have to read about another 35,000 of you and have their decisions after about 6 weeks. They don’t have the time to read about how your hamster died when you were six and you’re still traumatized because you can hear his squeaking in your dreams. They want to hear about how you’ve learned from failure, come back from oblivion, and plan on changing the world. If you’re not interesting (which is just not possible), finesse the heck out of yourself!

2. Your essay isn’t a one-and-done deal.

I started, restarted and re-restarted probably 10 times before I even had a solid idea with a base, and even then, I was editing up until October 30th (and even then, my mom was prying the computer out of my hands while I was writing). Also a tip: think of it as a creative writing piece instead of an analytical essay.

3. Writing block exists.

Somedays are better than others. If you’re staring at your monitor for more than 45 minutes and are pulling a Spongebob (see below for meme reference), then get up and worry about it either later at night or the next day. Low-key though, make sure you start actually writing it early enough where you can do this without imploding from stress a few days later.

4. TALK TO YOUR GUIDANCE COUNSELOR.

I literally cannot stress this enough. Considering they’re the ones to submit transcripts, write you a recommendation, and more, it’d probably be helpful if you saw them on a repeated basis of every two weeks until everything’s set in stone. Make sure they’re doing their end, because you’re doing yours. I got lucky and had a wonderful guidance counselor, but I’ve had friends who have had crappy situations that aren’t their fault where things get lost. You wouldn’t want to not be considered because they forgot to send in a transcript after you’ve done all of that work (yes, this happens, and yes, you’ll probably want to jump off a bridge if it does).

5. Applying ED? Have everything done anyways!

I went early decision to my college, but had already had all of my applications done for the other nine schools on my list in case I didn’t get in. Think of it logistically -- if you get your ED letter back December 10th or so and you don’t get in, the rest of your applications are due January 1st. That’s a lot of last minute scrambling that is super easy to avoid.

6. Know what you probably will and probably won’t get into.

Let’s be honest -- not everyone is qualified enough for Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. If you apply to only those three schools, you’ll probably end up sad. Pick 2 targets, 2 reaches, and 2 safeties at least, and then go from there. If your reaches are your dream schools, look to see what you can do in the next few months to boost yourself up. Contact an admissions officer, visit the campus another time or two, or go to your school’s info session.

7. They ~seriously~ remember you.

Seriously. If you email asking a question, that email’s probably in your folder with your essay and application in the admissions office. If you register for a tour, your tallies of the amount of times you visited are on the computer. Once I knew I wanted to go to BU, I toured two more times, came to two open houses, and emailed my admissions officer a basic question about financial aid or something just to get my name out there. It helps.

8. If you don’t know where you want to go, that’s totally normal!

Apply to places that interested you when you toured, see what you’ll get into, and you can make your decision once you get there. Since there are so many factors involved in picking the place that’s right for you (academic, social, economic, etc.), you might have to go back and look again to get a clearer vision, and that’s okay too! Very few people know exactly where they want to go when they’re going through the steps, but many end up happy in the end. I had a friend that submitted her college decision April 30th at 11:50pm and she loves it there.

9. You’re gonna get in somewhere.

I came home the second week of senior year sobbing because I got a 68 on some precalc assessment (I was in AB Calc, so this should have been a warning sign that I should have, well, run for my life) and felt like no college would ever want me, but here I am! A happy college student! Even if the places that take you are not your number ones, twos, or even threes, somebody will want you. I promise you that.

10. After hitting submit, go treat yo’self.

I mean it. The night that I submitted my CommonApp, my four best friends and I drove to get ice cream and pizza and then proceeded to listen to Hannah Montana full blast in the high school parking lot. It was a fantastic day.

So there you have it! You’re almost done with the taking classes that are state required but make you want to sleep (I’m talking to you, American History I), bad school lunches (unless you go to a college with bad food. FOOD IS IMPORTANT. MAKE IT PART OF YOUR DECISION PROCESS), and immature drama -- you just gotta power through until January and then you’re cruising :)