Another school year begins and with it another wave of seniors must decide what their future may hold: whether it be picking the right college, getting a job, going to a trade school, or a combination of the above. Either way the process is exceedingly stressful.

Most teachers and staff members hope students will get a head start on applying to college, if that is the route they chose, in order to eliminate some of that stress.

“If you’re a junior right now or you’re a senior you should be well down that road on getting ready to go to college,” Principal Dan Serrano stated, “it’s very competitive and you have to have things in order or you are not going to get in.”

The problem that many seniors are facing though is that the long list of colleges, majors, and scholarships to pick from and strive to can become overbearing.

“I think it’s stressful, just worrying about scholarships and getting accepted into colleges,” Senior Joyce Kuang said. “You have to worry about current school work and you have to worry about being able to turn in your applications on time especially for the early ones, it’s stressful.”

Added on top of the list of college related work and schoolwork most seniors have other things to stress over when it comes to time management. Such as part time jobs, sports, participating in clubs, volunteer work, and any other extracurricular activities.

Trying to find the time to balance everything becomes daunting. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day.

Added to that every time a senior checks their mailbox—whether it be email or snail mail—it is likely that there is a message from one of a long list of colleges hoping to rope that student in and persuade them that their school is the best one to apply to.

Many students begin to bend under this pressure.

“Some of the consequences of stress for high school seniors are panic attacks in susceptible adolescents,” psychologists doctor Rosalind Dorlen explained in a recent interview done on Love to Know.

If the stress of trying to compile a list of colleges to apply to, trying to figure out where and how to apply for scholarships, or even figuring out the endless number of deadlines becomes too much. Remember, it is okay to not be able to juggle everything at once.

Ask for help. There are countless others who have been through the same tedious process.

And lastly, find a way to de-stress. The long-term results of stress can increase the odds of experiencing anxiety in the future.