Parents

Tyra is having mixed emotions

Tyra is beginning her winding down of high school. There are still months to go, but she’s already looking ahead to college and beginning to relax. Not all seniors are at this point so early in the year, but many will get to this point soon. Read the full interview below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Tyra attends a public high school in Iowa


How were your holidays? Do you feel rested and ready for the rest of the school year?

The holidays were fine, and I am starting to get the mixed emotions about senior year. Like I am extremely happy to graduate but at the same time I am sad to leave everything that I know behind. As for rested, today was my first day back and I am completely shot and beyond tired.

You're still on track for the vet tech program? Can you tell me the school? What--other than finish high school--do you need to do to be prepared for the program? Are there any other requirements or classes? Anything for you to do this spring or summer for that?

I am excited to attend Iowa Lakes Community College for their veterinary technician program. I am on track and will take four total college-level classes that will get me credits for my degree this year already. So then once I am into my first term I will only have vet tech classes, which I think will be a huge load off of my back. I need to save some money to go dorm room shopping, that’s for sure. I have barely anything bought yet and need to make a list.

Assuming you're set on that being your school, reflect on the past five months: do you have any regrets? Have you gained any wisdom you can share? Is it what you expected it to be?

I would not say I have any regrets, I am just happy to be a senior. I have been making friends with underclassmen who I generally do not like and can say I have learned a thing or two about their generation and how it’s much different than mine.

What does your spring semester look like? How's your school holding up?

As for this semester, I have an extremely light load and plan to use my time in order to just relax and soak up the rest of my high school career. My school is holding up well I would say, there are not too many new cases and the Covid vaccine just made its way into our small town.

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Things are more steady for Breya

Things are more steady for Breya

Thanks to Breya, I learned what a Dorm Haul video is, and now I’m watching them too. (It seems you can have a pretty sweet dorm room if you have Bed Bath & Beyond or The Container Store giving you lots of free stuff.) But Breya isn’t just watching videos. She’s sending off early applications, applying for scholarships, and even joining a new school organization. Things aren’t great—she’s still in virtual school and anxious—but her tone sounds more calm and steady than last month. Read the full interview below.

Julianna is optimistic and happy. No, really.

Julianna is optimistic and happy. No, really.

I sent these questions to Julianna—and heard back from her—on election day. On top of one of the most contentious elections in American history, we’re in the middle of another wave of the Covid pandemic, with US cases up over 40% from where they were two weeks ago. It’s not a great time to be a high school student trying to figure out college next year, or even to be a high school student trying to figure out high school this year. But Julianna is still optimistic, still excited. Read this month’s interview below.

Think of admissions like a party

Think of admissions like a party

As much as we understand the concept of holistic admissions, it’s hard to remember how it actually works. I’ve talked to many, many people—both students and adults—who can tell you what holistic admissions means, but then go on to say that it’s “really” all about test scores. Or that someone got into a particular college because of their essay. Or didn’t get into a particular college because of their essay. But holistic means that there’s not one single piece of information that leads to your acceptance or denial. It’s just hard to really believe that colleges take the whole application into consideration, and then evaluate it in a nebulous, non-checklist kind of way. So let’s use an analogy to perhaps make the process more intuitive.

Tyra is working through a mess

Tyra is working through a mess

Tyra is ok, but she’s not having the best fall. She hasn’t seen her best friend in a long time, her grandfather’s not doing well, she seems less certain about her vet program than she did a month ago, and about ten percent of her school has tested positive for Covid so far. Read the full interview below.

Breya is working alone

Breya is working alone

I caught up with Breya this week to learn a bit more about her and her college plans. She’s been very involved in her school, and she has an impressive list of colleges where she may go next year. But at the moment, like so many high school students right now, Breya is mostly working alone at home. Read the full interview.

Happy birthday to Apply with Sanity!

Happy birthday to Apply with Sanity!

The first blog post on Apply with Sanity was on September 28, 2016. It was just a short welcome and explanation of what the site is about, and all those things are still true four years later:

I want to reduce the amount of pressure you feel, not increase it.

I want to empower you to feel in control, not feel like a passive product for schools to consider.

I know that you, a unique and interesting person, are important regardless of your college situation.

I understand that a big-name, highly marketed college isn’t necessarily a path to happiness.

I feel that self-knowledge is the most important knowledge.

Five key ideas about paying for college

Five key ideas about paying for college

It’s really hard to talk about paying for college with a broad audience, because every individual’s circumstances are different. And individual circumstances are really important to college affordability, since the price of college depends to a huge degree on your individual circumstances. One of the great things about college education—but also one of the complicated things—is that most students pay different amounts for the same education. However, as we’re coming up on application due dates and FAFSA opening up on October 1, there are some key ideas that are applicable to everyone, no matter your individual finances.

Three quick questions with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Three quick questions with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.

The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

This response is from Theresa Abbott, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Three quick questions with Davidson College

Three quick questions with Davidson College

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.

The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

This response is from Abby Vidmer, Admission Counselor at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina.

Three quick questions with Muhlenberg College

Three quick questions with Muhlenberg College

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.

The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

This response is from Bailey Fulginiti, Assistant Director of Admissions at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Meet Julianna

Meet Julianna

It’s time to begin the fourth year of Meet the Class! The class of 2021 has the strangest admissions season in memory—standardized tests being largely sidelined, few in-person campus visits, all on top of the demands of living through a pandemic—and I’m interested and excited to see how it goes for the more than a million college-bound high school seniors. It looks like there will be four seniors participating this year, and here is the first installment. Enjoy!

Three quick questions with Santa Clara University

Three quick questions with Santa Clara University

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.

The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

This response is from Kendall Wulbrun, Assistant Director of Admissions at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.