A crucial part of being a senior is applying to colleges and universities while also balancing school work and activities. As the year comes to an end, seniors reflect on their journey through the application process.

There are three different college applications. There is the CSU (California State University) application, UC (University of California) application and The Common Application for out-of-state or private schools.

“CSU wasn’t that difficult, for me personally I think the hardest part was the EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) essays because other than that CSU’s don’t require essays. For UC’s I think it was the essays because it’s hard to talk about yourself in a word limit and for Common App it was just hard because instead of writing one set of essays for all schools, you had to do that for every school you applied to,” said OHS senior Emily Martinez when describing the most difficult part of each application.

Using resources at OHS were a big help for seniors before going into the application. “At the end of my junior year I did workshops with Mrs. Baylor, and she introduced the applications to us so that way over summer I was able to get more comfortable with them and it wasn’t that difficult,” said OHS senior Alondra Quintal.

Applying to college costs various amounts of money depending on the school. “I would say be realistic with your schools. If you don’t really know if you’re going to get into that school, if your odds are not good, then I would say don’t apply,” said OHS senior Jenelle Vera since she had to pay for her applications.

“Now I’m sure I’m going to a four year and I’m going to go away. I’m going to miss my family, but I’m going to learn to be independent so it’s okay,” said OHS senior Yesenia Ceja. After all of the hard work that was required, seniors feel that it was worth it.