Seniors advise others to get started early

*Internal screaming intensifies*

This expression seems to be the shared semtement between all college bound seniors currently going through the application process. This process, while being equally stressful and complex  looks very different for students following different career paths.

Sarah Grace Wood is a senior currently going through this application process in search of a degree in music education

“I want to be a music education major, so either teach choir or band,” Wood said.

She has applied to roughly seven schools and chose these schools due to the opportunities provided within their music programs. Wood has been accepted to Arkansas Tech University, University of Central Arkansas, University of Arkansas and the University of Memphis

“The schools I just applied to they have really good music programs and also really good opportunities for music teachers,” Wood said.

She recommends not letting an acceptance letter to a certain school define your self-worth.

“If a college doesn’t accept you that doesn’t mean you aren’t worth it,” Wood said.

Another senior, Caleb Strickland, described his experiences so far as well. He hopes to pursue a career path that leads him to a larger city with a “population of at least one million people.”

“I’m pursuing degrees human geography, political science, rhetoric and international relations,” Strickland said. “I would say it’s been doing debate and stuff here at school since all that has been my last three years it’s what I figured I’d go focus on.”

When describing his application process he spoke of writing essays and the process of filling out applications.

“It has been a lot of writing essays and getting English teachers to check over them,” Strickland said, “and making sure people read them to see if my ideas and way I want to show myself is coming off the way I want it to.”

Strickland also emphasized the importance of starting early and focusing on what each school is looking for in students.

“Something I’ve learned is start early. Start early because you think you have time,” he said, “but with school and everything you really don’t.”

Senior Sierra Landreth is also going through the same process, but she is strictly looking at out of state colleges due to her desire to become a veterinary technician.

“I plan on attending out of state college for vet school in the future so most of my colleges I have applied to are in Florida,” she said.

Landreth focused more on actually traveling to her potentials schools and explored their programs.

“For me it was a lot of visiting since they are all out of state,” she said, “and then once I visited those colleges the ones I did like, I applied online.”