What I Learned from Senior Year

This past year for me has been crazy. I have had to fill out four college applications and put together a special portfolio for each. I also filled out about 30 different applications for all kinds of scholarships. Honestly, I think it is harder to get into an art school then it is to get in anywhere else! While I got accepted to Parsons, SCAD and VCUarts, each had their own twist or challenge to the application that added that much more stress. And while I advise that you start early, it is hard to motivate yourself to do so. Make a calendar of dates for all things college and them make a application send-in deadline for yourself about a week before it is actually due. Google search the crap out of each school you are applying to and go to sites like college confidential to get the scoop from real students. "Like" the schools you are applying to and post questions on their wall. Since the colleges pages are usually monitored and updated by an admission consoler, you should get a quick response and may find that lots of other applicants have the same questions as you. Figure out how to stand out. MUCH easier said than done I know! Be true to yourself though. Don't over exaggerate and make sure your art is uniquely you. Another thing about senior year that not a single person prepares you for is essays. Sure you can write little things in English but to stand out, that takes a lot of effort and outside work. Don't add a lot of fluff to the essays because they have to be short and represent you in a crisp and precise description. Don't be afraid to ask for teachers to read and help you edit you essay. They know what colleges want! Scholarships are even more work and even more competitive then college and have lots of random essay questions to answer. I recommend you start looking for scholarships now and make a resume for schools and scholarship so that you can save time by copying and pasting parts of your resume into each college application. Then, you have to get a tough skin to accept rejection from some schools and scholarships and learn to smile when best friends get into their dream school while you still wait in anticipation for an acceptance letter.

Here's the deal:

1. College is super competitive
2. College is super expensive
3. Student loans suck

The first thing I still hear after anyone, and I mean ANYONE, asks and knows what grade I'm in (senior in high school or college freshmen) is a) what college do you go to/want to go to and b) what do you want to major in/do? Being nice and polite, I respond with a smile as if I have never been asked the question. Those two seemingly simple questions are what seniors have been trying to figure out for our entire high school career. If the people who asked the questions really wanted to know the whole story they would have to listen to me babble for a good 30 minutes. I know for sure what I want to do with my life and that is fashion design. That answer alone can get you strange looks sometimes since most people have yet to accept and understand why you have to go to school for art and fashion. When you say fashion design most people then think that you have no brain and are some angst teen going to college to party. WRONG! I graduated 6th in my class and have over 30 college credit hours completed. Fashion designers are the farthest from being unintelligent and indecisive. If you want to be a fashion designer, you have to have a lot of smarts and a lot of creativity to succeed and you have to have even more drive and passion to be at the top then some doctor or lawyer.

Ok, sorry for the rant. It happens a lot and obviously angers me haha. But the second part of the question all seniors get asked: what school I want to go to? I had a list of 7 that I narrowed down to 4. But to respond on the spot about the place you only HOPE that you get into and spend four years at and eventually graduate with high honors; now that is what I call a loaded question. Maybe some seniors are the other way, they know where they want to go but what they want to major in? Wow.

Senior year, they say it's easy but the hard part is what you have to learn to do on your own.

However, I can say that it does help to get you ready for college because you have to be self-motivated and get yourself to where you want to be. The professors will not be there to hold your hand or give you a pity grade. You have to focus on yourself senior year if you are really determined to get that coveted acceptance to your dream school. You will learn a lot about yourself along the way and you will be able to rest next May once that diploma is in your hand and that college bumper sticker is on your car.