Need help with college apps? Go to the college center!!

    When  people say that Senior year will be easy, they are lying! One thing that is for sure is that college applications will be stressful. However,  I will give you some tips on how to make your life easier during what I like to call "college app season."

    Let's start off even before senior year. I recommend to start looking for extracurricular activities from the beginning of High School. Just like everything in life, you need to find a balance. So, don't sign up to every single club and program because you think it'll look good on a college application. Make sure to find clubs that you are interested in and genuinely think you will commit to. Also, don't start signing up to clubs your last year of high school, when you finally realize you never got involved in school. It is important to find things you are interested in, but don't stress yourself out and be involved in too many things.

    Now, I was luckily enough to be apart of two programs that helped me out so much throughout high school and college app season. The first program I found was EAOP. This program gave me the opportunity to take SAT prep classes for free at UC Berkeley! So it is very important to look for resources at school. I promise they are there. The second program I found was Summer Search, where I had mentor who helped me with my academic and personal problems. I also got my personal college advisor that guided me through the college process. I found both of these programs at De Anza and I am very grateful that I did. We are also very lucky because we have our college center where Ms. Jessica dedicates time to teaching you how to apply and is available to answer many questions. She also helped me save a ton of money with fee waivers for the SAT and college application fees. So go ask for help!! I can't stress this enough.

    Like I mentioned, yes, college applications will be stressful, whether you started 4 months in advance or 4 days before the deadline. Which you should really not start the application the week of, or else you will be extremely stressed out. Personally, I started writing my insight questions for my UC apps in August when the questions were first released. My essays were very rough and over the word limit but that is okay. Starting early gives you so much time to perfect your essays and shorten it to get straight to the point. However,  don't forget about the application itself. I was so focused on the essays that I didn't realize how long and time consuming the application is. Finish 1 or 2 sections per day! CSU's are fairly easy to fill out and once you fill out one, all the information transfers to the other schools you are applying to. So make sure to submit to one school first and don't start multiple applications at once.

Finally, the most important tip I can give you, is to take care of yourself. You will get through this process and you will be happy with where you decided to apply and how your essays turned out. Don't ever doubt your worth and it doesn't hurt to apply to competitive schools. You can do it! I did it and I'm still alive, barely... but alive!