Application Anxiety: I guess I’ll stay at BC forever

Photo by Amy Leong
Photo by Amy Leong

Ahhh, transferring—another step in the staircase of life that gets us students closer to our dreams, aspirations and ultimately, our careers. Many say that all it takes is a little motivation and a simple application. WRONG.

Transferring to a four-year school is quite possibly the most stressful thing about transitioning from Bellevue College. The whole reason kids like me go to BC is to figure out what we are interested in and what we want to study, but two years is definitely not enough time to figure this out.

I know I could stay longer, taking different classes here and there to stretch out the process and truly find what I’m interested in but that takes patience and money, two things I don’t have a lot of. I’m ready to get my Bachelor’s; I just don’t really know what I want to get it in or where. Two seemingly menial aspects of the transferring process. No big deal.

It doesn’t help either to hear all the horrific stories my friends and family share, about how they wasted time and money getting degrees on fields they aren’t even interested in or working in anymore. If it isn’t my 30 year old cousin, who spent several years getting his teaching credentials, a degree in English, and now wants to go back to school and become an Environmental Engineer, it’s my sister-in-law who spent thousands of dollars and hours at a private school studying Biology, only to find out she doesn’t want anything to do with it.
So what if I miraculously figure out what subject I want to major in, then it comes down to actually choosing the school that will fit me. The only thing I am for sure of is that I want to get out of Washington and go back to California, or just get out of Washington.

I still don’t know where in California or what school. Honestly, $65 each to apply to a few schools I MIGHT want to go to does not sound like a good use of money. Unlike the millions of other little kids, I never thought about my dream school, not even when I was in high school did I picture myself at UCLA, Berkeley or some other great schools.

If it’s not the college applications, it’s the applications for Financial Aid so I can actually go to the school I finally decide on. As I’m nearing graduation and the end of my time at BC, I know applications should be the first thing on my To Do list, but really they are the last thing on my mind. In between work and school when I finally get a moment to breathe, I don’t think, “Oh, now’s the perfect time to work on my resumes, FAFSA, CSS Profile, transfer and scholarship applications.” No.

So what may come of this transferring and application anxiety? Who knows, maybe by some miracle it will all just fall into place, but probably not.