College Applications Rewind: Senior Perspective

During the first week of January 2023, Pleasant View seniors finally completed their college applications. They applied to colleges across the country, such as the University of Southern California, Emory University, Hendrix College, New York University, Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and so many more. They also applied to local colleges, including Rhodes College, the University of Memphis, Christian Brothers University, and Baptist Health Sciences University.

The majority of these applications were submitted through the Common Application website, through which our seniors took weeks just to perfect their applications. “Even though it was an overwhelming experience, Pleasant View provided us with resources such as a week only dedicated to college applications,” Sara Almoazen, Zainab Malik, and Samit Ahmed said.

Many different parts of the application could only have been completed with our school college counselor, Mrs. Jennifer Cartwright-Alejo. “I knew exactly who to go to when I had questions about my applications and needed some sort of guidance,” senior Sara Almoazen said. In all honesty, without Mrs. Jennifer, I don't think any of us would have had a single clue as to how we should start or go about our applications. “One of the main things that helped us with our applications would definitely be our advisory class during junior year…we took that class as an opportunity in the second semester to brainstorm common app essay ideas which gave us a better head start this year,” Nia Yusuf stated.

The advice I’d personally give to the Class of 2024 is to not underestimate the work you will have to put into your applications - be prepared to go through multiple drafts, because nothing will come close to perfect, but it will without a doubt be a lot better than what you started with.

There will be some changes to the admissions requirements, and one of the most significant ones at the moment would be ACT scores, so I also highly advise the upcoming seniors to take the tests and try to get the score required for the schools you are interested in.

Finally, a message from all the seniors - we wish you all the best of luck! Do not procrastinate like the majority of us did, because you will seriously regret it.