Sleep. School. Study. Apply. Repeat. Aug. 1, seniors began tackling the dreaded college application process, only to await the acceptance or rejection letters that determine their lives for the next four years and beyond.

For some universities, automatic admission is offered to an applicant once they meet a certain criteria.

“I knew I would get automatically accepted to Mizzou because of my ACT score,” senior Olivia Thebeau said. “It’s nice because I don’t have as much stress as my friends who have 80 different requirements for school.”

In-state public universities, like Mizzou, offer education to students at an average cost that is thousands of dollars less than that of private universities when not factoring in financial aid.

Thebeau only applied to one college, but according to Niche.com, 60 percent of students apply to four or more colleges.

Senior Dylan Enyart is applying to out-of-state universities, such as the University of Colorado Denver, as well as universities abroad, including the Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland, and Mizzou.

“I’m just applying because of Mizzou’s affordability,” Enyart said. “But I really want to go out of state to further my knowledge because I think there is better education outside of Missouri besides Wash U.”

The number of applicants applying to competitive universities, like Washington University in Saint Louis, is at an all time high, with  Wash U receiving about 30,000 applications from the class of 2018.

In attempt to enroll at a competitive college, senior Nithin Goriparthi is applying to 10 top engineering universities, including Georgia Tech, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, UT Austin, and the University of Michigan. He is applying this fall non-binding, early action, deadline Nov. 1.

“I just want to get it done, alleviate some of my stress, and maximize my chances of getting in,” Goriparthi said.

Seniors compete against their equally qualified peers for the limited spots at universities. Goriparthi hoped to standout in this cutthroat applicant pool by improving his ACT score in September.

“I was anxious to take the September ACT because it was my last attempt, and I wanted to make my family and I proud,” Goriparthi said. “I didn’t even get to the last passage on reading which crushed my motivation for science, and as soon as the proctor called time, I stormed out of the room because I was so pissed.”

Despite violating ACT protocol, Goriparthi still received his ACT score.

“I had to have a long talk with the person in charge on the test,” Goriparthi said. “I was relieved that they didn’t cancel my scores because I had already finished the multiple choice portion and I hadn’t started the writing test.”

Enyart also worries about his likelihood of admission, but he tries not to allow the stress and competition get to him.

“Although I’m applying to the same schools as my friends, I don’t view any of them differently during this process, but I often compare myself and think that I don’t have a chance at getting in because they can do many things that I can’t,” Enyart said. “ I overcome those feelings by hyping myself up and telling myself that I can get into my dream school by writing good essays.”