If all goes according to plan, I will be in college in less than a year. I’m ready for a new adventure at college, but there are a few issues I have run into. The biggest, and probably the most dramatic, is I have absolutely no idea where I want to go. I don’t know what size school I want. I don’t know if I want public or private. I don’t know what location I want to be in. I don’t know anything at all. At this point I can go anywhere. I have picked 10 schools I wanted to apply to, decided I actually hated them all, removed them from the common app and started over. I have no joke done this 5 times. My original list of schools was 54. Fifty-four. That is literally obnoxious. Let’s go back to the common app issue. I have a love-hate relationship with the common app. I love hating every school I apply to. Common app is so easy yet at the same time I don’t understand a single thing. If you are like me, and plan to apply Early Action to schools, then you are in a bit of a time crunch. August 1 of your senior year the common app opens for applications. They give you tons of prompts and supplemental essays you need to write, alongside hundreds of deeply personal and detailed questions about your life. By November 1 you have had to complete all of these questions and essays, get all your recommendation letters in, submit your transcripts and standardized test score all while keeping your grades up in school so you get into your dream school of course. I know I will end up exactly where I am supposed to be and it will all work out, but for now I like to panic about all the possible outcomes my life could go in the next year. To be fair, I am being a bit dramatic. I have a finalized college application list and I am very happy with the decisions I’ve made. Just like the rest of the population though, I am my biggest enemy. I doubt my ability to get into the schools I love or I stress myself out for the future to come. For now, I am staying focused on senior year and remembering how life works in magical ways so it will all work out. I am enjoying my 13th and final year in the Shaker Heights School District and my final year living with my family. I am reminding myself that this next year will be fast, so I better enjoy it. Life is hectic right now, but the more I think about it, the more excited I am. I just hope I make that November 1st deadline.