The college counselors at my school said it and the admissions counselors at the colleges I visited this past summer said it too. "Online applications make the process much quicker and smoother." At first, this seems like a logical conclusion. However, when it came time to start turning in my first applications, I promptly found out that filling them out online wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Sure, it was simple to type in general information like my name, address, and school information using a keyboard. But unfortunately that part of the application, which is the bulk of what is submitted online, only constitutes about half (and the least important half) of what has to be sent to the college.

All of the colleges that I'm applying to want at least one recommendation from one of my teachers. Seems easy enough - I just have to hand the teachers a piece of paper and let them write me a letter, right? Nope. Completely wrong. After I spent an hour at the computer going to different school websites to print out their varying recommendation forms, I had to carefully handwrite information about myself on all of them and then make my teachers' lives easier by buying envelopes, stamps, and labels for them to mail their letters with.

I also inserted a self-addressed postcard with each recommendation so the college could mail it back to me to verify that they received the information. Let me tell you, waiting for all of those postcards to print was one of the most excruciatingly boring events in recent memory.

Of course, no application would be complete without a transcript and counselor recommendation sent by my school. I had to put together a package containing a transcript request form (so my school could legally release my grades), a resume (so my counselor had a list of my activities and accomplishments), copies of my standardized test score reports, counselor recommendation forms, course descriptions, and one of the aforementioned postcards. Seems like a lot of paper for an application that was submitted online, doesn't it?

As annoying as all of that extra work may sound, it isn't the labor that bothers me the most. The way that the system is set up, I am sending part of my application electronically, part of it through my school's guidance department, part of it from separate teachers, and part of it from the ACT and College Board. All of these items are sent from different places at different times, and I find it difficult to trust that the colleges I'm applying to will receive all of my information and put it all together.

I can only hope that the countless paper cuts and finger cramps I suffered while preparing documents and typing my applications will come through for me in the end. The worst thought of all? After all of that hard work, plus the monetary expenses of applying, some of these colleges will most likely merely send back just one sheet of paper folded into a business envelope to let me know that they cannot offer me admission. Oh boy, am I glad that this process has been as painless and trouble-free as I was told it would be.