As the fall season continues, it’s about time to start submitting college applications. Early application deadlines are coming up and regular decision deadlines are coming soon after. For students who are applying to several schools, applications can be extensive and complicated. Here are the top seven tips for completing college applications:
- Start early and do not procrastinate!
When beginning college applications, it’s important to take as much time as possible to complete them. Especially if you are applying to several schools, it takes a large amount of time to research and choose schools, fill out applications, write essays, get letters of recommendation and send scores/transcripts. If you procrastinate your applications, the process quickly becomes stressful and you likely won’t be submitting your best work.
- Know your core values and interests
When choosing schools, filling out activities and writing essays, it’s super important to know your core values and interests. Knowing what field you want to go into will help you select a school that is the best fit for you. Additionally, colleges like to see applications that revolve around the same interests and core values. For example, if you strongly value innovation and have interests in science and technology, you should express this value and interest throughout your application, such as through your essays and activities.
- Use spreadsheets
When filling out applications, staying organized will make you more efficient. While researching universities, spreadsheets can be very useful for organizing information that is important to you about each school. For example, maybe you want to record a school’s price, acceptance rate, student to faculty ratio, etc. Using a spreadsheet will help you view information about different schools side by side. Additionally, spreadsheets can be very useful for recording and organizing the different essays you will need to write.
- Get letters of recommendation sooner than later
Letters of recommendation are significant to your application, and they should be well written, submitted on time and say positive things about you. To maximize the quality of your letters of recommendation, you should ask your counselor, teachers and/or other recommenders to write you a letter during May of junior year or August of senior year. Even if you aren’t submitting your applications till late winter or early spring, it’s important to secure your recommenders before too many other students ask them. That way, your recommender won’t feel rushed and/or burnt out when they write your letter.
- Make a timeline and know your deadlines
When applying to multiple schools, there’s typically going to be several steps and tasks you need to complete. One strategy to help prevent procrastination and to help organize your work is creating a timeline. A timeline can show when to finish college research, pick the schools you will apply to, get letters of recommendation, send scores/transcripts, write essays and complete applications. Additionally, a timeline will help you know if you are on track or falling behind.
- Use the internet
Whether you are researching, writing an essay or filling out your activities list, using the internet is always very helpful. There is tons of information online about universities and what they have to offer. One great resource you can use to compare schools is the U.S. News & World Report university rankings. There is also lots of information online about how to fill out certain parts of your application or how to answer different kinds of essay prompts. When in doubt, browsing online can help lead you in the right direction.
- Show gratitude to all who help you with applying
College applications are often a daunting process, and many students receive help from parents, teachers, counselors, mentors, etc. Showing gratitude to those who help you goes a long way and it makes people feel like it was worthwhile to give their help. Additionally, if you show gratitude from the beginning, whoever helps you is much more likely to do a better job helping you.
