This issue, I am staying away from my sarcastic side.

I am not going to call out ignorant students who know nothing about politics posting statuses about their views. And speaking of Facebook, I am not going to call out people for expressing their hate for people in our school all over my news feed.

We are a Seahawk family and everyone loves each other so just be quiet.

Although these people deserve to be called out, there are more important issues to be discussed.

With college deadlines arriving faster than ever, I do not know one senior who is not close to ripping all his or her hair out. So this column is addressed to juniors and below.

There is still hope for you.

Throughout your high school careers, you discover who you are and what you might want to do after you graduate. If you already have a plan I applaud you. If not, that is fine too. You may think you know what schools you are applying to, but you do not.

Every senior you talk to undergoing the college application will tell you not to procrastinate.

People, there is a reason for this.

I told myself over the summer I would have most of my apps done before school started, and at the very least my personal statement essay.

This was a lie.

As Sept. 7 came around the corner, I had barely started my Common Application.

So take my advice: do not procrastinate. I did not procrastinate and I still am under an unrealistic amount of stress. So what can you do to ensure sanity by this time your senior year?

Have a plan.

Know the schools you are applying to, and try to keep it fewer than 12. You are only going to one school, so applying to 14 does not even make sense.

Find out the differences between early decision, early action, regular decision and rolling deadlines and find out what schools offer what.

Something that helped me profusely was a notebook I created with everything I needed for applications. It has everything from college deadlines, to interview questions, addresses, and more.

I do believe that if I lost this my life would be over. But just having all the information I need in one place keeps my brain from frying.

I realize I am not an expert by any means. I am just providing my insight and hopefully saving a future senior from one less mental breakdown.