As soon as a student enters high school they are already receiving an earful of information and it can be quite overwhelming. Most people say  that they are going to start the college process early, but end up not doing that. What tends to happen is that people often leave the entire process for last minute and end up feeling entirely stressed out: something that could have been avoided. Though junior year is a stressful year, it is best to officially start the college process then. It is literally one of the only ways to lower your stress and make the process easier, rather than cramming it all the into senior year along with all of the school work and extra-curricular activities that one may get involved with. One's college essay is another important thing to get down early. Most people leave that as the last possible thing to do and it prolongs the process. It could prolong the process because one could have their application completed including recommendations, however, if one doesn’t have that college essay, if required, it could halt the whole process which stresses one out a terrible amount.