Hailey Auster

Congratulations on entering one of your life’s most exciting but scary times: deciding where to apply to college! All the tours, deliberations with parents, supplementals, and applications can seem overwhelming, but the process is incredibly rewarding. During the chaos of college application season, you are juggling a million different things.

As you move forward in your senior year and start preparing your application to Wake Forest, I’d like to share a few essential reminders for you in a classic Wake Forest format: the Top Ten list.

1. Quality over quantity. As you reflect on your involvement throughout high school, don’t try to speed-run through everything you did; find a few concrete examples of moments that impacted you.
2. Anyone can write a good essay topic, but it is up to you to make that topic worth reading and prioritize the quality of your writing for both your essay and supplements. 
3. Focus on why Wake is the right school for you, not the other way around. Maintaining this attitude throughout your process will keep your application to Wake Forest specific and help you advocate for yourself in relation to the resources available at Wake. 
4. Enjoy your senior year. College applications are important, but they aren’t everything. Don’t sacrifice your entire year to squeeze in five new extracurriculars for your resume.
5. Even after my application to Wake Forest was submitted, I kept in contact with my regional admissions counselor throughout the year. I emailed him about things I did throughout my senior year, either in my community or academically, to show that I continued my work ethic even after all my college applications had been submitted. 
6. I won’t lie to you; college’s first week or so can be rough. Being away from home for the first time, making entirely new friends, and figuring out how to be an adult can be stressful. However, after about a week at Wake, I knew I would be sad to leave when I graduated.
7. Take advantage of Wake’s importance of tradition. Wake values tradition more than any other school I know. Rolling the Quad after a victory, going to Pitsgiving, attending Lovefeast, running at Hit the Bricks, and dancing through Wake ‘n’ Shake are just a few of the highlights of my Wake experience and bringing the campus community together. 
8. Get involved on campus. All clubs and organizations are extremely welcoming, whether a club sports team, a capella group, or student government; they all value first-year engagement and want to share their passion for their interests and pride for their school. 
9. One of my core memories here at Wake was my first Lighting of the Quad. This is a tradition around the holiday season, when student organizations and administration perform performances and speeches on the quad, bringing the entire campus together. This made Wake truly feel like home.
10. If I could give you one last piece of advice for this year, this is incredibly cliche, but just know that everything works out how it should. That might be the last thing you want to hear because, trust me, when I was a senior in high school, I felt the same way. I didn’t understand why everyone told me that until looking back now. Everything works out how it should, and you will understand why this time next year. Just trust the application process and keep doing what you’re passionate about.