This is the the second part of a six-part series titled “Getting Ready To Apply to College”. For this post I will be focusing on the college application itself. It is really important to understand that the application is the first thing that colleges will read when you apply to their school. This may sound obvious but I remind my students all the time that even if they have good grades, test scores and extracurriculars; if their application is not filled in correctly or contains a number of errors, this will put you in the “denied” pile pretty quick. Nevertheless, completing the application today is a bit easier than completing the application 15 years ago because almost all colleges now have their application online. When completing it online, it will typically tell you if something is missing or incomplete. Below is some helpful information and advice when completing the college application:
- Complete the Common Application if you can. The Common Application (commonapp.org) is the most popular application today. The number of colleges that now accept it is over 1,000 so the odds are overwhelming that you will be completing it for at least one or more of the colleges you apply to. The Common Application continues to make user friendly updates each year as well. Now a junior can complete the information under the “Common App” tab and it will roll over into the new year when they are a senior. They also added Google Drive integration to make it easy to attach and upload documents from a student’s Google Drive account. Starting in 2022, another new application method is through SCOIR. What used to be the Coalition Application is now the ability to apply to colleges through SCOIR. Not may seniors in the class of 2023 used this application method but I see it definitely getting more popular over the next couple of application cycles.
- Beware of “Fast Apps”. Some colleges like to waive the application fee and/or provide an application that is quicker to complete than the original. I am not saying you should not complete these, but make sure you are definitely considering that school as one you would attend. Colleges do these “fast apps” to boost their application numbers so they can bring down their acceptance rate (which looks good in the rankings). They know they will get students that fill it out and then decide not to finish the complete application process later on but they can still count the application in their numbers.
- Fill the application out completely. Again, the application is the first thing that colleges will read to get to know who you are. Don’t leave things blank or vague in the application thinking that “it’s on my transcript” or “resume” and make them work harder to get to know you. Make sure you fill in all of the space provided in an application before you say, “please see transcript” or “please see resume for complete list”.
- If it says “optional”, it means required. I tell my students that for any essay questions that say “optional”, you should always complete them if you are providing them more information about you or why you want to go to their school. There are only three types of essay questions that are truly optional, the first is one that asks if there are any “circumstances that affected your grades”, the second one is if it asks about “disciplinary action you want to let them know about” and the third (for as long as they keep it in the application), is the COVID essay. You do not have to answer these three questions if you do have any new information to provide but any other optional essay question you should answer.
- Do not miss deadlines OR complete the application the night before. I always tell my students that it is so important that your application is submitted at least a week before the application deadline. Why? Because they won’t even consider if it isn’t. I go a step further though and say that you should never complete an application the day before. Ideally, you should complete an application the week before because in most cases you have to submit an essay with that application and you don’t want to rush to get an essay done. If you do, it will most likely not be a good essay. You are prone to make errors if you are completing the application and submitting it the night before.
- What GPA do colleges review when evaluating my application? Every high school senior has a GPA on their transcript that is based on the grading scale their high school uses. At DC, we us a 5.0 weighted GPA. This GPA is what colleges will see when reviewing your transcript, but a lot of colleges today, will recalculate your GPA on a scale that they want to use so that they can evaluate all applicants on an even playing field. Typically, this is on an unweighted 4.0 scale but it could include all courses, just the “core” courses, they could honors “+” and “-” or even do something else unique when recalculating your GPA. The best thing to do is ask each college if they recalculate your GPA, if they say “yes”, ask how they recalculate it, ask what your recalculated GPA is and then check it for accuracy. Believe it or not, college admissions counselors have made errors when recalculating someone’s GPA and that could negatively impact your chances for admission or scholarship money.
- Completing the SRAR (Self-Reported Academic Record)– Only in the last few years has the SRAR become a requirement for some colleges who now require this to be completed instead of receiving your transcript. They want you to enter your courses and grades into your SRAR account from 9th-11th grade. Click here to access the webpage to create your account and add your courses from 9th-11th grade. You will need your unofficial transcript (in your SCOIR Drive) in order to do this. You will not add your SAIL classes in the SRAR but you should add your Pass/Fail classes.
The applications for most colleges will be available to complete over the summer before a student’s senior year starts (typically August 1st). So take the time to create your accounts in order to apply, make sure you save your log-in information somewhere you know you can find it and get familiar with the application. It’s always good to have someone look over it before you submit it as well. Don’t withhold any information that could give more context to an admissions offer of what you can contribute to and how unique you are. They want to bring students to their campus that will bring positive contributions to their campus…not just someone that will study, sleep and do their own thing in their free time. The application is most often times your “first impression” with a college you are considering attending so make it a good one!
