2000 Page 16 Ah, the trials of senior year. Staying up late into the night, slaving away over college applications, trying to keep up in school and eagerly counting down the days until it's all over. But believe it or not, seniors may not have the worst of it. Seniors struggle through this nightmarish stretch once, and they have the satisfaction of knowing that come May 1, they'll be done with college applications forever.
Many teachers have no such luck.
The ordeal of applying to college seems to take over much of senior year, but, says science teacher Edward McIntosh, most students actually fill out only five to ten applications. Social studies teacher Anne Taylor says she wrote college recommendations for more than 80 students last year, devoting about two hours to each one. And, in many cases, each college requires the teacher to fill out a different form in addition to a general letter of recommendation, which can be a challenge with many students applying to ten or more schools. Senior Jason Ott has ten applications on his hands, which he has divided among three teachers. Ott believes in giving gifts as compensation.