Photo by Andres Ortiz

A picture of the Future Center. The future center aids students in preparing for their future either through college or career. Students also come to the future center for mock interviews and to borrow formal clothing.

The Class of ‘24 crossed the deadlines for the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) applications on Nov. 3, 2023, along with the deadline for the Common applications for private and out-of-state colleges (most being around January 2024). Now with second semester finals being all that’s left for seniors, they have some advice for next year’s high school seniors planning to go to college.
As the first semester has already come to a close, the seniors of MHHS have reflected on their CSU and UC applications along with their regrets and chances of getting into their dream college; additionally, they have advice for others.
Students intending to go to college usually apply to more than one university, especially if the student is a part of the AVID class, a college readiness program that aids students in preparing for college in advance and more applications students may need help with.
“Get [college applications] done as quickly as possible since it’s pretty quick, and you shouldn’t leave it [to the] last minute,” said senior Alejandro Sanchez.
Now, this year’s seniors estimate that their whole application process took around one to three hours (for both their CSU and UC applications), but that time was spaced out over weeks, the closer they got to semester one finals, leaving most of it to the last day. But the real effort and time-consumer of the applications were the essays. Some students recall, while writing the essays, spending a significant amount of time staring into blank space simply pondering what to write down. The essays are a big factor in students’ confidence in their applications. So, the takeaway is apparent: don’t slack, stay on track.
The UC application opens on Aug. 1, while CSU applications open on Oct. 1, and as senior Keiran De Asis puts it, “make it count on that time and start brainstorming all of your PIQs(Personal Insight Questions).”