Junior year is ending for the class of 2027, but their senior year is coming up shortly. This means it is time for the class of 2027 to apply to colleges in the fall, which includes touring colleges in the summer, getting the Common App ready, writing college essays, and other steps to completing their applications. Not only does senior year mean applying to colleges, but it also means balancing school, sports, and senior activities.
Applying to college is a huge deal for the class of 2027, as it is finally the step they have been preparing for and looking forward to since their first year. College is the path most juniors take when high school comes to an end. Common Applications usually open in August for students wanting to attend private universities in California or out of State. University of California and California State University schools do not use Common Application, but their own system for students to send their applications. Many Juniors had already created a college list already or have a couple schools in mind they want to apply to, such as Junior Addison Cooper who plans on applying to “Boston University, UCLA, UCSC, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, since they are competitive schools which will help me later on get to medical school,” demonstrating Cooper’s drive to apply to top colleges to achieve a career working in medicine.
During the summer, incoming seniors usually take college tours to explore the campus, check out classes, and see whether the university they are visiting is the right fit for them. Junior Mikaela Jovellanos plans on applying to top UC schools such as UCLA, which she has toured already, and UCSD, which she is planning on touring soon and excited because “I’m aware of UCSD’s impact on the community. I hope to gain more insight on what my future could be this campus tour,” demonstrating that she is giving UCSD a chance to be her home for the next four years after high school.
An important part of the college application process is applying for scholarships. College is expensive, especially at private universities such as the University of Southern California; hence, during the summertime, the best option for incoming seniors is to apply to them in the summer, as it is likely that they will have some money in their college funds from using the time away from school to apply for scholarships. An important scholarship that incoming seniors can apply for is the CalKIDS scholarship, which awards $ 1,500 to each high school student living in California.
Even though college applications are a big part of senior year, that is not all what senior year is. The class of 2027 has a lot of fun activities to look forward to, such as senior sunrise, senior prank, and the senior trip to Disneyland, GradNite. Junior Kaylie Hirt is excited about her upcoming senior year, looking forward to “senior ditch day because it’s a day where I get to make long-lasting memories with my friends going off campus for the whole day, revealing that senior year is going to be fun for the Hirt and the rest of the class of 2027.
Furthermore, senior year also means having the balance college applications, sports and other extracurriculars, and senior activities during the first couple months of the year. Luckily, most of the incoming seniors have developed time-management skills during junior year, when they had to learn to balance school and extracurriculars, as that year was crucial for their academic performance. Hence, trying to balance everything may be rough for some, but not all. Junior Liam Loyalla says to “go with the flow. Just continue what you have been doing with sports or other activities for the past 4 years. You just focus on one thing or the other,” listing what to do for a senior not to get stressed with what they have to balance their senior year of high school.
To summarize, as the class of 2027 transitions from junior to senior year, they have a lot to do, from college applications to enjoying their senior year as much as they can.
