The conversation can be heard in the hallways, the locker rooms, and during APES: “Have you thought of your quote yet?”

One of the most important applications a high school student will ever submit has a due date right around the corner.

“Senior quotes are kind of like an existential crisis,” said Jeremy Feinstein who explained how senior quotes are a step to completing the transition from high school student to college student.

Picking a quote as early as October may be frightening, as it will forever sit right under your beautiful Stuart Rodgers picture in the yearbook. A senior quote gives your name and picture a short background for classmates to look back at after graduation. Your children and their children and their children’s children will review and insult it if it’s not up to par.

The quote-picking process may be a brutal and ruthless one, if you consider your choice to be important. Some students spend hours researching to find the perfect quote.

Ayesha Abassi opted for Google, “I Googled ‘cute quotes’ and one stood out to me. But I wasn’t nervous about picking one, I sent in my quote the day we got the sheet in advisory.

Others refuse to get caught up in the hype. Neda Musa said, “I just don’t care about it.”

Julia Sieja said of her ideal senior quote, “It has to be legendary. It has to be something that makes them think ‘Wow! That is wild. Make it wild as possible. Make people go ‘what?’”

When picking a senior quote there are many routes one can take. Some decide to go the satirical direction.

“Probably something funny just cause I feel like they’re more entertaining,” Arta Ratkoceri said of picking her senior quote. “When I look back at [my yearbook] I wanna see something funny not something inspirational about how hard it was to get through it all.”

Zoe Linares was another fan of implementing comedy into her quote. “I want a quote that is funny and that represents my personality and my life as a high schooler,” she said.

Jonah Frueh is going in the opposite direction with his, he said, “I started by looking at people I really admire and thought were eloquent speakers. He went on to say he leaned towards song lyrics but thought they were too cliché.

Grace Hemmer might go with another popular choice, a shout out to her friend and her sister. Lots of senior quotes from years prior have both a quote and a shout out. This is possible as 140 is the character limit.

When finally submitting your quote, a scary thought may linger, “did someone else choose this one?”
In years prior, there have always been repeated quotes in the yearbook. For some students, it’s their biggest fear.

Tanya Lorig said she wants to be inspirational but different, “I don’t want the same quote as everyone else,” she said.

Celeste Hall described her main goal as standing out and being different, “something that would distinguish me and be kinda amusing,” she explained.

A burden lies in the due date, which happens to be Oct.31, the day before college applications are due. Charlie Black said of the approaching deadline, “there are too many other things going on right now, college stuff, my apps are due. The pressure is on.”

Some students are worried about submitting at all, Sahar Steiner wished the year book asked for the quotes a month later. “I’ve been so busy with college apps,” said Chloe O’Donoghue, “I just don’t have time to think.”

Whether funny, cute, inspirational, or an inside joke, make sure it is appropriate as the yearbook staff pledged to cut it.

Make it perfect and get it in within the next six days, no pressure.