Many colleges extended their early action and early decision deadlines in light of the complications that resulted from Hurricane Sandy.

For many high school seniors, this news brought immense sighs of relief about meeting deadlines.

“It is very convenient for schools to push back their deadlines,”  said senior Emily Hack.  “Students who did not have access to power after the hurricane must feel a great relief to know that their schools extended their early deadlines.”

Because of widespread power outages across Long Island, many students would have faced great difficulty in completing early applications on time.

“I think it was a great idea that colleges extended their deadline due to the effects of the hurricane,” said senior Reed Kalash. “It would have been impossible for many students on the east coast to get their applications in on time when there was no power to access their online applications.”

It is true that students without power or those who waited until the last minute to submit their applications benefit from this, but what about students who finished days or even weeks before the deadlines?

Most likely, these responsible students must now wait longer to receive an admissions decision, which is unfair to those students who thought ahead and got their work done on time.

“I finished my applications early, before the hurricane, to make sure that nothing would go wrong,”  said Hack.  “I personally think that colleges should let us know what their decisions are on the original dates that they intended to, but it is understandable if they do not.”

Often, seniors try to get the worst out of the way, and for those applying early, getting their applications done as soon as possible is usually the best option.

But because of these extended deadlines, many students are now worried that they won’t hear back soon enough from their colleges.

Seniors applying to their dream school for early admissions often wait to complete all applications depending on whether or not they got accepted into their top schools.

College applications contain lengthy supplements and essays, and most seniors strive to avoid having to do extra supplements if necessary, and knowing if one has been accepted to their early school is crucial in making this decision.

Waiting to submit other applications would save the applicant a significant amount of money in application fees.  Most importantly, a great amount of stress and work from applying to more colleges would be prevented.

In contrast, some students were not bothered by this delay.

Those who feel less stress about finding out if they were admitted or not to their top choice schools will be less affected by this.

“I honestly do not think a few days or even a couple of weeks would make a difference,” said senior Ben Lerner.  “Even if you are applying early somewhere, it is best to have other applications ready to submit for regular admission.  It is good to have schools as a backup and to make sure your application process goes as smoothly as possible.”

Although there might be the slight disadvantage of hearing back later from colleges, the decision of extending the deadline was unavoidable and necessary because of this hurricane disaster that hit Long Island.

Ultimately, it is reasonable that even those who met the original deadlines will have to wait slightly longer to hear back from their schools, despite the possible disadvantages of this.

“I definitely think it’s fair if I have to wait longer for a decision,” said senior Emma Zorfass.  “For many people, the extensions made the difference between applying to the schools they wanted to and missing the deadline, so I’m willing to wait a couple extra weeks to hear back.”

Hurricane Sandy took a terrible toll on residents everywhere on the east coast, and thankfully, colleges were gracious enough to extend their early action and early decision deadlines.

This will make applying to college an overall easier and less stressful process for all of those affected by the terrible storm.

While it may be annoying to wait a bit longer for decisions, the benefits of this decision outweigh the costs.