By: Claire Cutting

The end of one chapter marks the start of another. Recently, seniors at Bellbrook High School have been working hard to complete their college applications. Students have been working on applying to colleges for the past couple of months. 

The first step for most students in this process is filling out the personal information questionnaire on the Common App website. Students can then select the colleges they want to apply to and fill out each college’s individual questions and written responses. From there, students can show their interest in scholarships, honors colleges, clubs, and extracurricular activities. 

Each student must also write a personal essay answering a specific prompt. This essay will be an addition to every college application they submit. Test scores, such as ACT or SAT, are optional to send in for most colleges. 

These applications are a cultivation of over a decade’s worth of education, so the process has been long and tedious for students. “Applying to colleges was a fairly simple process — it’s just time-consuming,” Evi Fromm, a senior who applied to five colleges, said.

Fromm’s peer, Summer Bixler, agrees. “Applying to colleges wasn’t a complex process,” Bixler said. “It was actually pretty simple. But I didn’t want to accidentally forget something or do something wrong.”

To complete the process, students must pay the application fee, and then their application is submitted to their desired college. From there the students must wait to hear a response back from the desired school.

As the students are waiting for their college acceptance decisions, they’re keeping their dream college choices in mind. “My dream school is either the University of Oregon or the University of Washington because the states are beautiful,” senior Jordan Frantz said.

Bixler keeps her favorite state in mind as she chooses her dream school, “The University of Tennessee Knoxville is definitely my dream school because I have always loved Tennessee,” Bixler said.

To some, there is no place like home. “The University of Dayton is my top choice because it’s close to home,” Fromm said. “It was the only school I could fully picture myself attending, and I loved everything about it.”

As the seniors prepare to leave Bellbrook High School, they reflect on how high school has prepared them for this big transition. “I would say that high school prepared me socially, as I’ve learned to invest in myself rather than focus on others and their unnecessary drama,” Bixler said.

The academic preparation has been essential in high school for some. “I have taken challenging courses in high school, and the skills I learned from those classes will definitely help me in college,” Frantz said.

College allows students to gain independence and newfound freedom. “I’m excited, but really nervous for college,” Bixler said. “It’s setting in for me that I’m closer and closer to being on my own, which is something I think will be an exciting experience.”

Bellbrook High School counselor Debra Sanderman has helped the seniors throughout their entire application process. “The progression of these students, from when they come in as freshmen who are trying to figure everything out, to now seniors that apply to their dream schools and then come in with their acceptance letters, is amazing,” Sanderman said. “Seeing these students apply to colleges is definitely my favorite part of what I do.”