To many, fall might be considered the best season of the year; knitted blankets, colorfully painted leaves, and pumpkin spice galore! But for high school seniors, it means college applications and constant essay writing. 

The college decision process is the most critical experience a high schooler goes through; they get to determine where to live for the next four years and what they want their future career to be. But, the Reedy High School senior class is ready for whatever life throws at them. 

Most school’s applications opened up August 1st through the Common application, but senior Kendall Walden got her head-start early.

“I started the process all the way back in June!” Walden said. “I started drafting my personal essay and narrowing down which schools I want to apply to, but I wish I did more to start earlier on.”

Getting out of the Frisco bubble and adventuring to somewhere else is a top priority for many seniors applying this year.

“The University of Georgia is my top school because I’ve visited the campus twice and really like it, and I like it’s an hour away from Atlanta so that I can be around more black people,” Walden said. “I’m looking for more diversity since Frisco doesn’t have a lot of well-rounded diversity, and I’ll be close to a major city that can offer that.”

When it comes to time management and reducing college pressure, senior class president Regina Moreno Vera has got it all down!

“It’s been both a stressful process and not,” Moreno said. “It is stressful to think that my application will affect my future, but I spaced things out well in advance to mitigate stress.”

It’s not about the application process for some students, but instead, how they’re going to pay for college tuition. Senior Alessandra Benavente has been looking for closer to home and cheaper in-state tuition.

“I’ve been looking at UT at Dallas, UNT, and UT at Arlington,” Benavente said. “All these schools have really great STEM programs and are close to home, which is a positive for me.”

Others can’t wait to hear back from the colleges that they’ve applied to, so much so that it’s causing Student Council Vice President Maddie Amezcua a large amount of stress.

“Waiting to hear back from colleges for a long time is super hard,” Amezcua said. “Along with just trying to get all of the scholarships applied for is difficult as well.”

Several seniors have already committed to their dream school, like senior Kelsey Blaskowski, who will be at the University of Arkansas next fall. 

“I’m very happy with my decision, the second I walked onto campus for my visit, I fell in love,” Blaskowski said. “The only hard decision was deciding I was going to be in a different state than my family for the first time ever. However, they supported me throughout the entire process, and I can’t wait to be a razorback in the fall!”

All in all, senior year is very bittersweet. It’s a fine line between the fear of leaving and the thrill of going. But, I have no doubt that the Reedy senior class will go out into the real world and accomplish great things.