By: Harpreet Narula Here we go again! With the beginning of a new year, the junior class of 2012 on the PCFTL campus begins one of the most dangerous, terrifying, and daunting journeys of their lives, the college process. As the senior class of 2011 begins to receive acceptance, wait-list, and rejection letters, another year of students begins the gruesome, torturous task of finding their perfect match, getting in, and trying not to have too many nervous breakdowns en route. Beginning the college process, the anxious juniors are researching colleges, scheduling meetings with their counselors, surviving scatter grams, filling out surveys, and generally suffering from an epidemic of widespread panic for which the survival rates are currently pending. Is this out of the norm? No. Juniors have good reason to panic after hearing the horror stories and “data” passed down by seniors, teachers, parents, and basically everyone else around them. Also, who wouldn’t freak out? The entire college process is completely overwhelming with all of the factors and schools to take into account. Everyone has different preferences, and no matter if you are an honor roll student or an athlete, musician, dancer, or normal student, you feel like you are never what the colleges want or that you will never get in. “It’s nerve wracking. The whole thing is mentally and physically depleting. I’m always thinking about it. I’m scared, nervous, and anxious,” said junior Robbie Martin. Robbie sums up the overall feeling which all juniors and seniors must go through, albeit sometimes unwillingly. Junior Martina Fouquet also commented on the beginning of the college process, “It is extremely stressful venturing into the unknown, not knowing what the result is of all the hard work you’ve put in for the last three years of your life.” This is another common feeling among students. “What if the work doesn’t pay off? What if, no matter my good grades, I don’t get in? What if I will never be good enough to get into college? What if I didn’t do enough?” are the questions running through the minds of juniors every day. For a fact, applying to college is one of the most stressful, overwhelming, and frightening things that have happened for most students in their lives to date. So, is it all about being anxious and scared? No. Fortunately, things do get better. How? “Our personal cheerleaders,” as Mrs. Hunt duped the college counselors, help, aid, and ease the daunting task of applying to college. Gradually and excruciatingly slowly, the juniors will begin to realize the college process is not as horrifying as it appears. Soon, the college process will become something to look forward to, to enjoy, and to be excited about albeit there will still be gut-wrenching fear amongst some students. The college process is something to enjoy and to hate – you get one of the best things in your life, freedom and, in most cases, leaving home, by going through one of the worst things, applying to colleges.