Last week was Thanksgiving break and except for the food, the games, and catching up with family, college applications dominated my time off from school. You know something is wrong with you when college applications surface in your dreams, or rather, nightmares! Nightmares aside, I hope to finish these applications before they are all I can think about.

I had tried to finish up applications before break, but the constant flow of schoolwork prevented me from accomplishing that goal. I guess that’s what school breaks are for anyway — catching up.

Even though I wrote many essays during the summer when I had a fair amount of free time, I quickly discovered that many of the essays I needed to complete for college applications didn’t relate to the essays I had written over the summer. So, before I went any further, I compiled a Word document listing every essay prompt I needed to finish for every college on my list, including the number of required words for each essay. Then I posted the list on my wall and marked off prompts as I finished the essays, confident that I had listed every requirement.

So during free time on break (mostly late at night after family left), I worked on the essays I still needed to finish. Although I’m not completely finished yet, I feel like I’m in a much better position than I was before.

Looking back now, I realize it would have been better to have finished these applications sooner, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20. Working over winter break (if I don’t get accepted by my early decision school) will be the consequence.

The first Monday back at school was the day I had to turn in my transcript request forms for all my regular decision colleges. Shelling out $90 for just transcripts to my schools wasn’t fun, but I guess it was a good lesson to learn early on: applying to college can be pricey! After a bit of prompting, my school’s post-grad office agreed not to send my transcripts until after I hear back from my early decision school. This way, if I’m accepted at my top choice college, I can retrieve my check and save myself the time of calling all those schools to cancel my applications. For the same reasons, I am also waiting until I hear back from my top choice school to send all my common applications and test scores.

The fact that my first choice college said that decisions would be made on or before December 15th has made me even more anxious. I don’t even have a specific date to check the website — the decision could be made before the 15th! What’s worse is the realization that all the hard work I’m putting into my other applications could all be a waste of time if I get into my top school; it makes it hard to stay focused and to keep working. In these moments, I remind myself that I can hope for the best, but I must always prepare for the worst.