By Sergio Arvizu-Rivera ’23
THE ROUNDUP
A typical Brophy student is often prepared for the college application process to begin as they enter senior year with the help of their counselor, but the stress of such an important moment in their lives often leads to anxiety.
Charles Cobb ’21 applied to 18 colleges, including Brown and the University of Michigan.
“[The] most worrying about the college applications is most definitely the deadlines, they sneak up on you and if you don’t start your applications early,” Cobb said.
During the college application process, seniors are forced to be vulnerable about their lives, writing essays about the most influential moments they have lived.
“I only have one chance to feed them a slice of my life,” Cobb said.
Each student is paired with one of five college counselors at the beginning of their sophomore year. By having a team of five counselors, Brophy offers a 203 to one student to counselor ratio, which is almost five times better than the Arizona average of 905 to 1.
Despite being in more frequent touch with their counselor than the average Arizona student, some Brophy students still feel anxious about the college application process.
“I think the most common concern for seniors applying to colleges is ‘will I be admitted and what does that say about me,’” said college counselor Ms. Karen Feltz. The pressure is on Brophy seniors as 99% of seniors attend four year colleges after graduation.
Another concern for students, as described by Mr. Oscar Borboa, is the financial burden set on families while attending college.
“The overarching concern is how to put themselves in the best possible position when it comes to financing their undergrad education,” Mr. Borboa said.
As of 2018, the United States is ranked second in the world for highest cost for college tuition with the average annual tuition fee at a private college being $21,189 according to Experian.
With around 25% of the student population currently being supported by financial aid, Brophy counselors try to match their students with the best school for them financially and academically.
“We do believe that with planning, honest conversations, and working with your college counselor almost every Brophy student can identify at least one option, if not several, that fits best,” Mr. Borboa said
With the overwhelming anxiety placed on most students when it comes to applications, seniors such as Logan Alvarado ’21 spend time outdoors hiking to help relieve stress.
Alvarado and some friends got creative and decided to organize a socially distanced hang out spot in an empty parking lot amidst the pandemic.
“When this pandemic all started my friends and I weren’t able to hang out because we were unsure how to or where to, so we started meeting up in this one parking lot and we’d park 10 feet apart and each of us would bring our own food and we ate dinner together,” said Alvarado.
Many people all over the country decided to also partake in this new way of interacting with friends. Social media platforms such as TikTok portrayed these meetups as friends parking at distances and sitting in either their car trunk and sometimes even lawn chairs while socializing at a safe distance .
“It was a fun and different way to see the friends I missed,” said Alvarado
There are many other ways to help with calming one’s mind, but college counselor Mr. Borboa reminded seniors that although their time at Brophy as a student is almost over, they should still enjoy how special of a school it is.
“Focus on getting the most out of your time at Brophy. It’s a wonderful place. And it doesn’t hurt that those who usually stay centered on that principle are the ones that eventually enjoy the most “success” when it comes to college admissions.”
