Ah, dear reader, what could be better than knowing where you are going to college in November of your senior year? Being done with college apps, not having to worry about anything but keeping an average grade point average and staying academically eligible for sports?   Actually, for those of you who are not seniors, you have no idea what I am talking about – an eight month “vacation” does seem really, really cool.

It seemed really cool to me too when I got accepted by the school of my choice in November. Fast Forward to January 2010. My fellow accepted seniors and I were so bored by school that it was painful.  Like sometimes when 2:10 wouldn’t come fast enough, we would start weeping.

“Wouldn’t it be cool though to just go to school and do nothing?” people ask me constantly. Without anything to look forward to in life, with nothing to do, seniors often fall victim to doing ridiculously stupid things and taking on ridiculously hard and time-consuming projects.

One only has to observe Facebook to take note, such as the wildly hilarious “Our Gaffes Your Laffs” or the wildly inappropriate “Wildcat Chronicles.” These are prime examples of "projects" made by unmotivated seniors.

Most colleges have several options for admission, including several "rounds" of Early Decision, Early Action and Regular Decision.  The main difference between the two "earlies" is when you apply Early Decision, by applying you have signed a binding agreement, that if accepted, you will attend the said college or university.

Colleges often have higher rates of acceptance from this "applicant pool" because the students really want to go there and are enthusiastic about that particular school.  Early Action is for students who are interested in several schools but don't want to tie themselves down to one school in particular; there is no binding agreement to go to the school, so it is simply like knowing in December or January that you have options, but not that you are done entirely. Early Action is probably the ideal option for seniors predisposed to be lazy.

Then there is Regular Decision, where you hear on April 1 whether or not you are going to college. If you get rejected from all of your schools, you are in huge trouble. This should only be used if you are certain you will be accepted, or if you already have options (e.g. you applied Early Action to some school). 

I’m not trying to tell you what to do in terms of your college application process; I am merely providing my own life as an example of what can go awry when you have no real goals in life but to pass your classes (and by classes, I mean English).  I know that not everyone is as genetically predisposed to senioritis as I am, but if you eliminate the risk factors by not doing Early Decision, there is a significantly higher rate of survival.