With the Common App released and waiting for you to begin you may be dreading starting your college application process. While the process may seem tedious and daunting by starting early you are already getting a leg up on your competition and will be able to rest easy as deadlines approach!
1. Start the Process Early
This can not be reiterated enough! Starting the process early will allow you stress free revisions while all of your friends are scrambling to start their final essays. Ideally, getting the basics of the common app complete along with the two (or three) essays they require completed before returning to school will have you way ahead and allow to focus on specific universities supplements! Also, you will more than likely have your college counselor grinning ear to ear.
1. 5 Triple Check The Word or Character Limit of an Essay Before Beginning
Nothing is more frustrating during the college application process as writing a 1000 word essay only to realize the limit actually said 1000 characters. That is time that was wasted where you could have been completing a supplemental essay instead of trying to get your 1000 words scraped down to 1000 characters.
2. Find Someone To Proofread All of Your Essays
Personally, I had an amazing college counselor through my school. Maybe some of y’all don’t’ have that luxury however, it is crucial to have a person who can consistently proofread your essays time and time again. Mom and dad are great but lets face it, they would go easy on you and those reading your essays at the university of your dreams might not be as much of a softie for grammar mistakes and not fully elaborated experiences!
3. Be Sure To Apply To Schools You Could Actually See Yourself Attending
This should be a no brainer! Why take the time to apply to a school that you can’t see yourself attending, especially if you’ve toured it prior to making that decision. You are wasting your time and potentially taking the spot of someone who is dying to go to that university if you apply.
4. Have a Backup or “Safety” School
I don’t care if you are a genius or not, having a back up / safety school will surely give you some piece of mind. For you that may be an in state institution or a public university in another state, thesis a school that you have no doubt you will get into!
5. Ask People To Write Your Recommendation Letters As Soon As You Know You Need Them (beat your friends to it so yours is at the top of the stack and won’t be generic)
If you have completed your application early on then you will quickly realize that recommendations are another important part of the process. Asking your favorite teacher or sports coach before other people have even started the application process will allow you a very personal recommendation returned to you on time. Just like you don’t like receiving assignments last minute, your recommender does not want a days notice before your recommendation is due. By giving them plenty of time they can think through all the positives they wish to discuss providing you with a stellar recommendation.
6. Send Your Resume Even If A School Doesn’t Ask For It
Most schools are going to ask for your resume (address, school organizations and positions, academic honors, extracurricular honor, community involvement) and if they don’t send it any way! This is your chance to brag on your personal achievements during high school so proudly send it!
7. Keep Track of Deadlines and What You Have Completed
If you are not organized then you need to fix this problem quickly. Use your planner and write down when applications, supplements, and recommendations are due! By having a visual of this information you are more likely to remember these dates and not scramble around 20 minutes before they are required to be submitted.
8. Look For Ways to Share The Same Information with Multiple Schools
A lot of what you will be sharing with schools are pretty typical things that all the university you are applying to would like to know! If you can use a paragraph from a different school’s supplemental essay in another essay then go for it as long as it flows. You want to make sure you are doing this to better describe yourself and not just add in information because you are feeling lazy and tired of writing!
I hope this helps out any seniors preparing their college applications!
Good Luck!
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