On November 1st, on the second floor of Friends Select’s main building, I was fully engrossed in my computer and locked in position. My eyes followed the screen when I scrolled down. I typed fast on the keyboard without noticing how many people had walked by. I closed the computer while walking to my next class, knowing that in just forty-five minutes I would need to review yet another college application. 

Most colleges offer a variety of application commitments for students, and the most common three are early action, early decision, and regular decision. According to the College Board, early decision is binding, which means that students are committed to attending this school if being accepted, and early action allows students to apply and potentially be admitted earlier prior to the regular decision releases in the spring. Early decision and early action deadlines are at the beginning of November, and most of them are due on November 1st. 

Many students will apply during this round. Under the current circumstances. Students often have heavy workloads from school combined with strict college application deadlines, which makes the quality of life very stressful. Some students decide to take November 1st off, and others do not. In terms of maintaining manageable workloads and minimizing absenteeism, I believe that seniors should be officially given November 1st to work on college applications. 

It is difficult for seniors to keep devoting energy to school work after submitting college applications that same day. Therefore, November 1st becomes a big day for seniors to turn their applications in. People may argue that seniors have a more flexible schedule, and they can do college reviews during breaks. However, having a flexible schedule does not mean students are free all day without school assignments due. According to a survey sent out to Friends Select Seniors, 12 out of  20 respondents had assignments, tests, quizzes, or sports on November 1st, forcing them to juggle application submissions and assignments in school. Some students who decided to apply both early action and early decision to various colleges needed to submit more than one college application, which doubled the workload, all during a regular school day. 

Having November 1st off could provide seniors the necessary time to do a final review of their college materials, which include a personal essay, supplemental essays specific to certain colleges, activity lists, recommendations, basic information on the Common Application, and even an art portfolio for some students. School indeed gave seniors October 11th off to prepare their college applications, but there is no guarantee that seniors were able to finish everything at that moment. Students may still have been writing personal essays, activity lists, and supplementals: everything is still in process. Therefore, October 11 is a good day to prepare materials and continue working on college applications, but not a day to do final reviews. 

It is true that students should not wait until the last minute to submit their applications, and they can also click the button before November 1, such as October 31. However, November 1 will not always be a weekend. In 2021, October 31 is on a Sunday, and the class of 2022 can take advantage of this day to review college applications. But in 2022, October 31 will be a Monday. In the following year, October 31 is a Tuesday. For the next few years, October 31 will be on a school day. Therefore, it is only a coincidence that October 31 is during the weekend in 2021. In the future, seniors need to contribute to college applications, assignments deadlines, and sports on both October 31 and November 1st, making it difficult for seniors to fully concentrate on their final reviews. 

Admittedly, Friends Select is trying its best to run seniors’ classes smoothly, however, if many seniors take November 1st off, it can impact teachers’ plans and work efficiency. “I was super surprised on November 1st when half of the journalism class was absent. I had planned an activity for that day, but I ended up throwing my plans out the window and doing something else with the small group,” Zoë Blatt, Journalism and Digital Art Teacher, said. “I absolutely understand the need for students to take that day to finish their applications, but it would have been nice to have a heads-up, as group absences impact planning and course progress.”

In certain classes, seniors make up at least half the number of the class. Hence, when all students in one class are seniors and half of them are out of the class due to college deadlines, teachers may need to change their plans. “If I knew that many seniors would be out, I would want to change my teaching plan– either skip the lesson that day so that students would not fall behind or make it something asynchronous,” Natalie Mayer, Biology Teacher in Science Department, said. 

College applications are an integral part of senior year, and it puts pressure on seniors, including myself. I started to work on my college materials and brainstorm the personal statement over the summer and still needed to do the final check on the last day. I took November 1st off, and this allowed me to put more energy into my college process, such as meeting with my counselor, checking grammatical mistakes, and polishing my art portfolio. I felt relaxed after clicking the button, and my life became much easier. Therefore, Friends Select should make November 1st a college workday for seniors to make this stressful time easier for everyone.