For most high school seniors, college is a constant thought looming in the back of their minds,  bringing excitement of new opportunities and possibilities. But are students nowadays prepared for college? Are they informed enough to complete the application process successfully?

According to a recent NPR article, “just under 40 percent of students score at college and career ready levels on NAEP” which is the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This staggering statistic is a testament to the amount of students who are not ready for the rigour of college, whether by their own volition, or by their teachers or parents.

Aside from academic readiness, one of the more common problems students have is getting accepted into college. Although learning how and when to apply should be a key portion of senior year, it is often brushed aside or scarcely discussed at school leaving students oblivious to how to complete the process.

After beginning the application process senior, Kate Dalley commented that “It’s been a really complicated process” and continued to state that if her parents hadn’t informed her of the deadlines she “would have been totally clueless.”

This seems to be a common concern among seniors as Emily Fairbanks also concluded that if her peers hadn’t kept her up to speed she wouldn’t have known when or how to apply for college.

“If my friends weren’t applying I definitely would have missed the early action deadlines for my dream school”, Fairbanks remarked.

Deadlines seem to be one criteria of the application process that students are often ignorant to. Licia Bailey, a former employee for the Arizona State University Barrett Honors College admission office, said “the biggest mistake students make is only applying to one school and waiting till late in their senior year.” Students are often simply lazy in their applying and remain ignorant to the facts until late in the school year.

Bailey did say that students should be driven in their desire to get a college education but stated that  “scholarships don’t fall into your lap, you have to search for them and be very proactive.” However, many are simply unaware of the cutoff dates for beneficial scholarships or early deadlines which creep up quickly in fall or early winter.

Seniors need to be more motivated in the application process. They should be informed on the scholarships and deadlines however, schools should also provide them with more information regarding the how and when of getting into college.