It is now the middle of September and things are in full swing for high school seniors. School has begun and that means the bulk of a senior’s time is doing homework. If you are playing a sport, you are now getting to the middle of your senior season. There are a number of other extracurricular activities seniors are involved in as well. On top of all of this, seniors are working on their college applications they will be submitting this fall. Below are some items to pay attention to as we head into the next month and half before the November 1st EA or ED deadlines.
1) Work on your essays NOW – I remind seniors over and over that they take the entire amount of time it takes to complete an application, 80% of that time should be spent on the essays that they need to write. However, what happens a lot of times is that a senior will rush through writing an essay to just get it done because they waited too long to write it and they end up submitting a mediocre, cliche and not well written essay. It may take up to two weeks to write a good Common App Personal Statement. This is the essay that every senior is required to write as part of the Common Application that gets sent to every college they apply to through Common Application. The rough draft could take a couple days to write, then you must send it to at least two people to proofread your essay and get it back to you. After you get it back from them you should tweak and edit your essay and get it back to your proofreaders to read through it one more time. Unfortunately, you can’t do this a week before an application deadline. There isn’t enough time to do it well and you will not submit a solid essay. On top of the Common Application Personal Statement essay there may be a number of supplemental essays. Seniors, please work on your essays now and don’t put them off thinking you will have time later. I am happy to proofread any essays and I know a couple others that can also proofread that do a great job.
2) Continue to show interest- Don’t get caught up in the checklist of things you have to do in order to apply to a college (application, essay(s), test scores, letters of recommendation, etc.) and forget that the admission counselors actually making the decision on your admission are people too! Below are very important ways to continue to show interest.
A) Meet with a college admissions counselor if they visit our school– This is VERY important! You may not be given a better opportunity to connect with a college admissions counselor than if they personally come to your school and all you have to do is walk to an office or classroom at your school and meet with them. On the flip side, if an admissions counselor visits us here at DC, and you do not take the time to meet with them, they may get your application and think, “if this student really wanted to come to my school, why didn’t they meet with me when I was at their school?”. Please take 20 minutes out of your schedule to meet with any college admissions rep that visits us here at DC from a college that you will be applying to.
B) YOU need to ask any questions that you have throughout the college application process- I emphasized this when meeting with each senior and it is so important. If you have any questions throughout the application process, you, the senior, need to ask the college admissions counselor who will be reading your application. This shows interest, helps the college admission officer know who you are, you get the best answer directly from them and it shows that you are proactive, mature and take initiative on your end. There’s nothing wrong with Mom or Dad calling but this doesn’t move the needle when it comes to showing interest. I can also call but I will always make sure you make the initial contact and if you do not get an answer in a timely manner or don’t understand the answer, I will be happy to get involved.
C) Take advantage of an opportunity to visit a school you are applying to or attend an information session- These are two great ways to show interest as well but I understand it may be difficult to visit because of distance, cost and time. If there is an information session that the college hosts in the Philadelphia Area, this is a great way to get more information about the school but also show interest. If you are unable to either visit or attend an information session, e-mail the college admissions officer who has our school and let them know why. They will understand and you reaching out will be a plus.
3) Don’t obsess over rankings- There are so many different college rankings lists out there it’s hard to keep track of them all. Each list has different criteria for evaluation and the number one school on one list can be toward the middle or bottom of another. Even within the same list a college can jump or fall an unbelievable number of spots in the span of just a few years. Instead of worrying about where a school falls on a list, focus on fit! The top school on a rankings list might not be the best school for you. Fit is key when building your balanced college list. If you have a couple reach schools on your list, you need to have a couple target schools and a couple safety schools. I think you should apply to only a few reach schools because then you can invest the appropriate time and energy into each of their applications rather than spreading your time over 10 reach schools in which you have the same opportunity to be admitted.
4) Don’t Wait to Apply- The college application itself, without the essays included, should take an hour to complete online (I already talked about the amount of time the essays should take above). It’s important that everything in the application is correct so please have someone look over it before you submit it. What some seniors do, however, is wait until a week before (some a day before) to complete the application, and whenever you do something closer to a deadline, the greater the chance you are going to make unnecessary errors because you are going to rush to get it done. Please plan in advance and make sure that you complete an application at least two weeks before a deadline. Why? Because this will allow the other information that needs to be sent in order to complete you application (transcript, letters of recommendation, resume, etc.), to get to the college in a timely and efficient manner.
5) Enjoy the process and give God control! – The stress of maintaining good grades and staying active in activities, all the while completing a dozen college applications can take the fun out of the process. Remember, this is an exciting time! You’re learning more about who you are as a student and a person. You’re visiting the schools you might very well attend next year, meeting new people, and making memories. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and get back to the basics – what do you enjoy? Or is it just reading a good book when you have a chance? Take time to do the things you enjoy and reflect on your ultimate goals. At the end of the day this process is supposed to be fun, so do what you can to make it enjoyable again. However, most importantly, surround this college application process in prayer and make sure in the end that you understand that you are ultimately not in control of where you go to college, God is, and He is going work things our according to his plan.