What High School Seniors Dread the Most

(MoneyWatch)  Let me state the obvious: high school seniors are stressed out.
They must visit campuses, write college essays, gather teacher recommendations, complete applications and study for one last-ditch effort to improve their ACT or SAT scores. At the same time, these kids must continue taking rigorous classes and ace their exams. And they often have to accomplish all this with their parents second guessing them.

Cappex, a free online higher-ed matchmaking service that links teenagers with colleges, just released a survey that examines what stresses out high school seniors. According to the survey, here is what these stressed teens dread the most about the college search:

1. Getting rejected. (77%)
2. Writing the application essay. (50%)
3. Keeping up with deadlines. (31%)
4. Finding scholarships. (31%)
5. Applying for financial aid. (29%)
6. Meeting a college's GPA and test score requirement. (26%)
7. Filling out applications. (22%)
8. Narrowing list of college picks. (12%)
9. Reading mail from colleges (12%)
10. Creating list of colleges. (9%)

For most seniors, the stress will eventually morph into senioritis once the applications are finished in a few months, but until then seniors could use some help. Parents can find resources to help ease teenage stress at the website of Challenge Success, a Stanford initiative that aims to dial back the stress that children and teenagers feel by redefining how their success is measured.

Stressed image by Sara. Nel. CC 2.0.