College Tips & Tricks: How Not to Stress Over College Preparation
By Jackson Nester
Stock photo of an application form
It’s that time of the year again that many seniors come to dread as college application deadlines are fast approaching. Stress begins to build for seniors as the most commonly asked question for high school seniors reappears, “What are you going to do after high school?”. This question leads to much anxiety and worries for seniors, but here are some tips and tricks to help ease this stress.
ACT scores are starting to be optional for a lot of universities.
One of the main concerns for high school students when they begin to think about college applications is their ACT score. Many think that if they don’t have a certain ACT score they're never going to get into the college they want to. However, in the past couple of years many universities have begun to omit ACT scores from applications, and they are no longer required to apply and get accepted into a college. Now with this said, ACT scores are still important for scholarships and may help you get a couple classes out of the way depending on your major.
Don’t worry too much about your ACT score, but don’t completely push it aside. Do your best, and if you don’t score as high as you want to, don’t think that you won’t be able to get into college.
2. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re going to major in.
Another major concern for high school students who are starting to apply for colleges is the belief that they need to have their whole life planned out before they go to college. Truthfully, most college students will end up changing their major somewhere along the way during their time at a university. The good thing about most universities is that they have an array of majors to choose from and will most likely have what you’re looking for in terms of what you want to do as a career. If you know exactly what you want to do and have it all planned out, that’s great, but if not, don’t let this stress you out and stop you from applying for college.
3. There are many alternatives if you don’t want to go to a big university.
The third concern that is extremely popular among high school students is the stigma that you have to attend a big university like Oklahoma State University or the University of Oklahoma, which are the two largest universities in Oklahoma. However, many alternatives are beginning to pop up that are more affordable than the bigger universities. Obviously, if you want to major in a specific area that only one of the bigger universities offer then you should probably go to one of them. However, colleges like Tulsa Community College (TCC) are great alternatives for students, especially those living in Tulsa county because then it’s free. A student can go to TCC for one or two years, and then transfer to one of the bigger universities, which is becoming a popular path for many students.
With all this being said, senior year is an extremely stressful time for high school students. However, if you keep all these things in mind and try to relax while going through the application process, everything will be alright. Try to keep in mind that college doesn’t define your life, so push all the stress aside and stay on top of your college applications.