By Malaya Madison
Leaves are falling, temperatures are dropping, and seniors are applying to the next four years of their lives.
For high school seniors, this time is a whirlwind of finalizing college lists, spending hours on the Common App, and tracking application changes, all while enjoying their senior year.
Senior Maiya Tomlin is feeling overwhelmed about the process so far, but also feeling lucky because she only has to write 3 supplements, which is very little compared to some of her friends.
“Most of the schools I’m applying to got rid of supplements: Georgia Tech, Tulane, University of Georgia,” she said.
While this process is new to Tomlin, Mrs. Hua, her college counselor, has been a lifeline throughout. Mrs. Hua also counseled Maiya’s older sister when she went to Lovett.
When I spoke with Maiya, her college essay was still in the works because she keeps “losing the plot,” but it should be done soon.
One thing she was surprised by in the college process was how much everything feels built on trust.
“For Wisconsin at least, I self-report my grades, and for activities, you put in how many hours you think you’ve spent,” she said.
A school that had a guaranteed spot on Maiya’s list was Michigan. “My whole family, except for my dad, went to Michigan,” she said, so she feels next in line.
On the other hand, a school she wasn’t expecting was the University of Florida, but she added it to her list because she was planning to visit her best friend, Nadia Infante, who goes there.
Also, the climate had its appeal. “Maybe the sunshine and rainbows of Florida are nice,” she said, “as opposed to the Arctic of Michigan.”
I caught Senior Cam Cannon coming out of a meeting with his College Counselor.
Cannon heavily relies on his college counselor, Ms. Vaughn.
“I would probably start in like November if it wasn’t for her; she’s definitely helped a lot,” he shared.
Like Tomlin, many members of his family have attended one particular school. But he wasn’t inclined to follow in line and go to Alabama State – until he attended their homecoming.
Other than that, he doesn’t have any schools on his list that he really wanted to go to because he doesn’t have “a dream school or anything like that.”
Overall, Cannon is feeling pretty chill about the process. “I’m not really stressed about it,” he said. “It’s really whatever.”
Someone who is very much not “whatever” about the college search is senior Waverly Markos, who, when describing how she was feeling, came up with one word: “Terrified.”
Fortunately, college counseling has helped her because “it’s made me gauge out the schools that I can get into and some of the reaches.” It’s helped her to know “where to put my attention towards.”
One place she wasn’t expecting to be on her list was Hawaii. “I think the campus is pretty, and I want to be in Hawaii,” she said.
Alabama, UGA, and Auburn, on the other hand, were always going to be on it.
“They’re kind of close, but I like UGA because it’s cheaper and really close,” she said.
Like Markos, senior Heran Tesfaye wants to stay closer to home, though Boston and Carleton are on her list.
“I think I kind of wanted to stay closer to home or in places that I have more family in,” she said.
For this reason, she’ll also be applying to Emory and the University of Georgia.
While she’s felt stress, she says that’s to be expected. And she appreciates the support of her college counselor, Ms. Armato, and the others.
“They’re very available and helpful all the time. They’re very on it,” she said.
And that’s important, because Heran has noticed how quickly time flies.
“A lot of the deadlines are coming up in the next month or so. So you think you have a lot of time, but you really don’t,” she said.
Heran has taken the SAT four times and is taking it once more before her deadlines.
Waverly has taken the SAT twice, and she plans to take it a few more times before she is done.
Of course, seniors are not the only ones under this immense pressure; college counselors feel it too.
I spoke to Mason Brown, a college counselor, about how she was feeling about this busy season so far.
Ms. Brown handles the stress by holding all her meetings during the day. Then, “I go home, I take a nap, and then I go on a walk”, she said.
But then she gets back into editing essays and anything else that requires her to be “locked in.”
When asked how seniors were about meeting deadlines, she gave them credit because “they don’t drop the ball on deadlines as much as you would think.”
On the other hand, she thinks that what they sometimes drop the ball on is asking themselves if they even want to attend some of the schools they are applying to.
“You’re so worried about them wanting you, but you’re the one that has to go there for four years and be proud of it for the rest of your life,” she said.
One big difference this year compared to past years is that many schools removed supplements from their applications.
They were taken out for a few reasons, such as the use of AI, and people are over-applying to colleges and universities, which leads to “a high level of burnout for the admissions representatives,” she said.
Unlike most seniors and college counselors at Lovett, senior Bridget Valls doesn’t have to deal with the stress of applying to schools anymore.
She had the honor of being the first out of the 2027 Class to be posted “Lovett Futures.”
She applied to two places, and the day that Ole Miss’s decision came out, she didn’t even bother waiting for Alabama.
Even though she has already decided, she still has more things to do: “There’s a lot of stuff you don’t see behind the scenes once you get into college, because I’m applying for another program,” she shared.
Though her process was quick, it still gave her the opportunity to reflect on how many extracurriculars she had participated in throughout high school.
“When you’re sitting down listing every single club you’ve ever gone to, every single sport you’ve ever done, you have way more than you think,” she said.
Regardless of the different journeys seniors are taking, everyone is racing towards the same finish line.
Ms. Brown says even though the fall is really brutal because of long days, meetings, and applications, “It’s nice that everyone’s kind of in it together.”
