It’s every senior’s favorite time of year: college application season. The dreaded time when seniors spend hours filling out forms to send to schools and then waiting months to find out whether or not their hard work in high school paid off.

I’ve grown up in West Covina my entire life, meaning Cal State and UC colleges were always literally right around the corner. I drove by Cal Poly Pomona almost weekly to visit family, passed by Cal State Fullerton on my way to swim meets as a kid, and even drove by Mt. SAC college often when my mom had to go to work. These colleges, and several others, were easily accessible to me. 

Yet, my mind ventured even further than California, and I started to dream about out-of-state colleges far away from home. These colleges, such as Syracuse University and Northwestern University, have appealed to me through their various journalism programs, their strong sense of community, and their aim to help students change the world. But I’ve never visited their campus, and I am unable to.

I come from a low-income family, so my family is not financially able to visit every school I’m applying to. I have to research these schools online through their virtual tours or the information in pamphlets I receive in the mail. 

I was lucky to qualify for a fee waiver for all of my colleges on the Common Application. However, not all students are eligible for this waiver, so they have to pay $70-$80 per school. This makes it even more difficult to find a reason to apply, especially when college can be thousands of dollars more expensive for students not from that state.

Syracuse University is my top choice; it not only has an extraordinary journalism program but also offers various internship opportunities at newspapers like The New York Times. I was fortunate enough to speak to representatives from Syracuse when I attended the National High School Journalism Conference this November in Nashville, Tennessee. It was my only chance to actually talk to them before submitting my application, so I seized the opportunity. 

This was a one-in-a-million chance for me to get, as the West Covina College Fair mostly has schools that are in-state or surrounding states, such as Oregon or Washington. 

Mt. SAC Early College Academy also highly prioritizes UCs and Cal State colleges. We get a lot of support on PIQs and filling out applications in Senior Seminar, but when it comes down to the private colleges, I’ve been sort of on my own. Of course, I get support from our counselor, Claire Contreras, and Senior Seminar teacher, Andrea Pedroarias, but it is not nearly as much as the support we receive for the in-state schools. 

Whenever I needed help with my Common Application, I had to make an appointment with Contreras so she could read over my essays and ensure I filled everything out properly. I couldn’t just ask her when she came into Senior Seminar, because those times were specifically for UC and Cal State applications

While it makes complete sense for the majority of students, it still would be helpful to receive additional support or information from my school or district that would help me prepare for something like this. Leaving the state will mean being on my own for the first time in my life, and filling out the application is just the first step to getting there.

In the future, I hope students applying out of state can receive more support from their schools, so they won’t be discouraged by what can feel like an arduous task. 

Going out of state is something I’ve wanted to do for my entire life, so while filling out those applications has been daunting, I know that I’ve worked hard to get here. I can’t just let the opportunity slip away so easily.