Tips to Survive the College Application Process
The talk of college and the future outside of high school can be stressful for many. Here we will discuss the college application process so that stepping out of your high school bubble and exploring colleges won’t seem as scary.
Choosing Colleges
Many students might have an idea about what career they want to pursue in the future, but don’t know the first thing about which colleges they want to apply to. People often talk about certain colleges that are known to have great programs in certain fields, but you shouldn’t take their word for it. You should research the colleges with the top programs on your own because the results may surprise you. The college novice may assume that the Ivy Leagues will be in the top 10 or 15 for almost any college major, but this is not the case. For example, there may be state colleges that have great programs for certain majors and they may have higher acceptance rates. This is great news because now you have a college that has a great program and can be somewhat of a safety or match school that you can apply to.
If you have absolutely no idea what kind of career you wish to pursue you need not fret because you can still create a narrowed college list. This is because college is not just a learning experience, but a living experience as well. Through your college list you can choose what kind of experience you will gain for the next four years. For example, if you wish to live in a city to meet people of different cultures and learn about different kinds of people, you can narrow your search that way. Similarly, if you are interested in meeting people of different backgrounds than you, your list can be narrowed by searching for colleges with large student populations. Remember, the next four years will be yours and yours only so try to go with what you want your experience to be, not what others think is best for you. If a college doesn’t seem right for you then just don’t add it to your list. Sometimes you do not need a specific reason, sometimes a feeling is enough for you.
In this way, attending college visits (virtual or actual ones) can help you figure out which colleges can be your future home. On the other hand, if you don’t really care much for the college campus itself, but more about its programs, then don’t pressure yourself to waste time with college visits. Again, understand your own wishes and plan accordingly.
After you understand your preferences, it is important to balance the colleges you apply to between safety, match and reach colleges. Safety colleges are ones that you are sure to get into. You should apply to at least one of these colleges. For the next two college types, there is no set number that you should apply to, but I will list the most common and reasonable amounts. Match colleges are ones that you will have a good chance of getting into. You can apply to 3 or 4 of these colleges. Finally, reach colleges are colleges that you have a good enough chance of getting into to apply. You can apply to about 2 or 3 of these colleges. If you look at these numbers, the reasonable amount of colleges you can apply to will be around 7 colleges. People also recommend that you shouldn’t apply to more than 10 colleges because you might be wasting your money. When deciding whether a college will make your list or not, think about this: if I get in, will I be willing to actually attend this college.
Deadlines
After you have completed your college list, the next decision you will have to make is what kind of decision you wish to apply for. Most early deadlines are in November (the earliest ones are generally in October). When applying for early deadlines be careful. Early Action means you will get a decision earlier from the college you are applying to. Early Decision means that you are signing a contract with the college you are applying to that you will attend their college automatically if you get accepted. Because of this, you can only apply Early Decision for one school. Most Regular Decisions deadlines are in January (though there are some later ones in February).
When choosing which deadlines you will be applying to remember that, again, balance is important. Try to split your colleges between the early application deadlines and the regular ones. Some colleges will almost force you to save some for regular decision because they will offer only early decision or regular decision, and if you are already applying early decision to another school then you will be forced to apply for regular decision for this one. Splitting up your deadlines like this will help you allot enough time to write each application with care. If you applied for all of your colleges at the early or regular deadline you might end up rushing some of the applications.
Now the application deadlines are not the only ones you should be keeping track of. There are other deadlines, such as when your counselors want you to submit requests for transfers, that you will be responsible for. It will help to make documents or spreadsheets to keep track of which tasks you finish and which tasks you will have to do later. All these deadlines may seem like too much, but organization is key to keeping some sanity.
After you submit the necessary information for each college, you will likely get an email with a website where you can make an account to track all of your information. It is important that you monitor this website because sometimes you can submit everything on your side of the process, but maybe the University, your high school or any other party didn’t properly send their documents. If you catch this then you can contact your admissions counselor to get the situation taken care of. Some students don’t realize that the colleges didn’t receive the necessary information needed and have missed chances of being admitted because of it.
Give Yourself a Character
While writing your application, you should really think about how you want to portray yourself. You don’t want to get lost in the crowd, you want your admissions counselor to know that you will benefit their college if you are admitted.
Some people say being an all rounder is the way to go and if you are an all rounder then you should portray that. But don’t stop there. Show them what kind of all rounder you are. Be specific: are you a curious student that has explored various subjects making you an all rounder, or are you just a genius quick learner who ambitiously learns any subject?
If you are not an all rounder, that is totally ok as well. If you have a specific interest in a single subject then you can show how you pursued your interests. It is better to show some expertise than being a jack of all trades, master of none. You can definitely beat applications that may seem like a student is an all rounder, but in reality they just stretched themselves thin with a bunch of activities. That is why whether you have one interest or you are an all rounder, you always have to be specific about your own personality and approach to learning.
In the end, if you convey your personality and interests across, colleges will be receptive of what you have to say. Don’t stress too much about what people think make a perfect application, because there will be colleges out there that want to admit you for you.
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