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Walking in the doors of high school on the first day of senior year marks the beginning of a whirlwind of pressure and decisions. There are colleges and degrees to chose, standardized tests to take, essays to write, applications to fill out, scholarships to apply for and, of course, senioritis working in full swing to make everything just a little harder.

For those of you who are not familiar with senioritis, I'll explain in technical terms. It's an all-consuming feeling universal to the senior class that is triggered by the molasses-paced approach of pending graduation. With change and freedom just around the corner, self-motivation on school-related material is almost impossible and creates an overwhelming need and readiness for change.

The choices that must be made senior year, such as choosing a career path, degree and college place a lot of pressure on seniors due to their immediate importance. However convenient or coincidental, the impact of these choices forces a senior to do some "soul searching" in order to decide what future is best for them.

Standardized tests and admissions essays carry considerable weight in what colleges a senior is accepted into, and applications and scholarships can be very time consuming. These facts are well-known to seniors, creating a mountain of additional pressure. You start to realize that you're not in Kansas anymore. Your mastery of material has more importance than a simple letter grade, and you see a need for a 25-hour day.

So why then is senior year placed on a pedestal? The pressure, choices, extra work and soul searching hardly seems worth all the anticipation. Who really looks forward to staying up until 2 in the morning before a submission deadline, or having to write ten different essays to ten different colleges? As I have found out, senior year is so much more than the colleges, essays and scholarships; it's a time to make some choices that have a long-term impact on an individual's life. It is the time with friends I won't see as much during the next four years. And who could forget the awesome graduation parties - and of course the anticipated graduation presents from friends and families.