College Applications were a roller coaster of emotions for me. Well if a roller coaster only had one loop. I started college applications with a doom and gloom from previous seniors and their experiences but soon came to realize that "Huh, this isn't that bad?". Starting my apps before the start of the school year likely played a large part of this realization. If I had any regrets it was likely not starting even earlier as to be even more relaxed my first semester of senior year. If I had any advice for future seniors (This is probably the most common college app advice given but it really is true) it would be to just start your apps early. Even applying to 20 colleges I found that you essentially write maybe 5 essays and proceed to change small details for every new college. So basically, just do it. Finishing my apps has led me to think a lot about what I want from my college experience and my answer has stayed pretty consistent, which is to be social. Most of the people I know (including my older sister who is a graduate and college friends) say that college is where you really learn to live, be independent and most importantly get to make those connections that last a life time. As such, my main goal in college is to network, be as social as possible and really put myself out there. Anyways, lets summarize all this in a gif...