Written by: Isabella
Edited by: Grace & Audrey
Visual by: Sofia
The coffee went cold, students ran on naps, and the sound of typing was drilled into their heads – welcome to senior college applications. For the seniors, November’s college application season was nothing short of a horror story, testing them to withstand the crushing weight of predicted grades, essays, and expectations. Now, months later, the dust has settled. But looking back, it is clear that college application season was about identity, dreams, and the pressures students carry both internally and externally.
Despite the chaos, not every senior feels completely crushed under the weight of it all. Hari (12) shared that “ISM life prepares you well for stress and load management, so it’s going well so far.” He admitted that college apps were extremely tedious, but not as bad as they initially seemed. “Except for the personal statement,” he noted, “that one takes longer than you expect.”
Still, even with years of IB experience, the pressure found ways to creep in. Connor shared, “My applications are done, so that’s a relief; though, I [was] worried about the next round of predicted grades.” It is a reminder that even when one hurdle was cleared, another one was already waiting.
Hayk, another senior, described feeling both stressed and self-assured about the process. “I [felt] relatively content about college applications,” he said. “They’re definitely a bit anxiety-inducing…especially for those of us that don’t have the option of applying to safety schools.” Still, he added that “with the faith we have in ourselves and the help of our wonderful counselors, they’re definitely manageable.” For Hayk, the real challenge lies not in the applications themselves, but in “having to balance the college work on top of the insane senior year IB workload,” which he said makes time management far tougher.
Hayk’s reflections capture a tension shared by many seniors: a blend of optimism and fatigue. His comments reveal how, beyond the stress of uncertainty, it’s the overlap of responsibilities that truly weighs on students. It is as if the process never seems to stop; rather, it just shifts into a new stage of stress. Between tracking grades, waiting for results, and preparing for the next deadlines, seniors are caught in a continuous cycle of pressure and anticipation.
What is surprising is that for many seniors, peer pressure did not hit as hard as expected. Brianna shared, “I don’t feel pressured by my peers because the ones I know about, we aren’t applying to the same schools, and some other people don’t like talking about it.” Hari echoed the same mindset, noting that the peer pressure should not affect students personally, “as long as you’re always pushing to be better than yesterday and not because of some random person applying to MIT or Stanford.”
Hayk commented similarly on the topic. “I’ve definitely noticed a small amount of peer pressure going around in regards to colleges, but it hasn’t personally affected me. Most of my peers and I are applying to a lot of the same Western schools. For those of us who aren’t, we’re always respectful of their choices and understanding of the various situations that they may be in, so I’d say peer pressure is almost non-existent when it comes to college apps, at least in my own experience.”
That has not always been the case. A few years ago, ISM had the “Spreadsheet Incident”, a shared document created by a group of students listing where every senior was applying. “Everyone was a little too obsessed with college results,” recalled Marny, an alumna. “College application pressure came from all sorts of places: family, self, counselors, and classmates. ISM is a small school, and everyone knew each other, so one can’t help but look into how everyone else is doing, and that builds up into pressure and self-doubt.” Her reflection highlights how the competitive culture surrounding college applications is not just about peers, but also self-imposed expectations and the unavoidable closeness of the ISM community.
Unlike previous batches that were caught in a whirlwind of comparison and competition, the current seniors took a healthy approach. Instead of letting competition define their experience, several seniors are finding motivation in self-improvement and perspective, proof that not every part of the college application process has to feel like a race.
Now that the season is over, seniors can look back on it with clearer eyes. Each student’s experience looked different, with some battling deadlines while others found calm in the chaos. Regardless, everyone shared the same goal: a future they had been building toward for years. In the end, while college applications were exhausting, that season was a reminder of the effort and persistence behind every application that says more about a student than any acceptance letter ever could.
