By Staff Writer: Tricia Tucker

Although graduation is not for several months yet, attending college will follow shortly after. It still feels as if we seniors are continuing on into high school, but reality is headed our way. It’s now time to buck up and take responsibility for our future.

It seems that some high school seniors are putting off applying to colleges each day – I know I was. But, what a lot of us don’t know is that in a few months, we won’t have an option: dorms are going to be filled and colleges are no longer going to be accepting applicants. If you want to have a choice and be able to consider all of your options, you need to jump on those applications, now.

When you are accepted into a college and have made that final decision, there are a lot of steps to take in completing the process: making a down payment, filing basic information, taking a personality quiz, choosing a dorm, and of course, choosing a roommate. With the majority of colleges, you can choose a specific person to room with, choose a stranger based on your common interests, or choose to have a random set-up.

If you wait until the deadline to choose the college you would like to attend, you’re not going to have much of a choice when it comes to picking a roommate. For me, I scrolled through dozens of students, read their personality descriptions, looked them up on Facebook, and then made my final decision and made a request. Well, soon everyone is going to be matched up with a roommate, and you are going to be left with no options – and no one wants that.

Since college is school, students are required to choose the classes they will be taking. There are hundreds of classes, but many majors require certain classes to be completed. After being accepted to a college, you would normally set up a tour of the college, where you would then decide on the classes you will be taking. All classes have a limit, no matter where you go. Unfortunately, this limit is eventually reached. Same as with choosing a roommate, you should apply as soon as you can in order to receive the classes that you need. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the next class is available (which could be a semester), which results in lost time and a later graduation.

College is expensive and scholarships can help out a lot. There are scholarships for almost any area: race, religion, grades, ACT score, job, university attended, etc. Though a large portion of scholarships were due in late February, there are still various scholarships that can be applied for until the end of March. There are also local scholarships that the majority of students would be eligible for. Although some scholarships may be for 300-500 dollars, which doesn’t seem like much in comparison to the thousands of dollars it will cost in the end, it can really help a lot. All those small scholarships can add up to save you thousands. The deadline for local scholarships is Friday, March 28.

All in all, choosing a college is a big decision and is not something that should be continuously put off until the last minute. This decision needs to be made as soon as possible; otherwise, you will lose scholarship money, dorm choices, and the chance of choosing the perfect roommate.