How do i begin the application process?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So It is summer and I am about to be a senior but I am not sure exactly what I can do this summer in order to prepare for applying to college. I am having difficulty finding some colleges to apply to but here are my questions:</p>

<p>1) I am trying to set up some college visits, so is this done on the website of the particular college? And do these visits really help because some people say if a college sees you visited then that shows a level of interest that they like?</p>

<p>2) When do people really start writing the applications and all? </p>

<p>3) I know the common app site will work on August 1st so once it is up what do i do on there? I know I can fill in the basic information but I don't get how I get my grades on there and what not</p>

<p>4) Once we start applying to college we send our Sat/Act score to each college individually right?</p>

<p>5) I got a 28 on the ACT (Took it once) and an 1870 on the SAT (Superscored b/c I took it twice) and I've read that these are about the same so which one should i use? I got a 7 on the ACT essay.</p>

<p>6) How come the ACT says underneath the composite score that this is not really for sure? They say that it is not an official score report?</p>

<p>7) When you report the ACT do you send the Essay too separately?</p>

<p>8) How do I know which colleges i Should look at? I know i can do the surveys and what not but it is hard to really see which is the best for me</p>

<p>9) In terms of college essays I have already written 2 (it was assigned for our English class) and my teacher said she liked them but I am not sure if they are good.</p>

<p>10) Are the college prompts up currently the ones that I will need to write the essay about?</p>

<p>11) How do you write the essays that are specific and ask "why do you want to come here" if you really are just applying to the school to see if you get in? Like what if you don't really love the college for a particular reason, how would you write that?</p>

<p>12) What does an entire application consist of? I know it is different for each college but how does this work? Like how can one also keep it all organized?</p>

<p>13) Whats early action vs early decision mean? Are they better than regular?</p>

<p>14) I know that early action means it isn't binding but then what isn't the point of doing early action? Colleges will still see your grades for the rest of the year so It is not like you are getting to avoid showing them everything. And how does one decide if they want to do decision or regular?</p>

<p>And are the dates for every college different?</p>

<p>15) I am taking three aps next year but by May all of the applications will be in, so do colleges see your ap scores?</p>

<p>16) Do all colleges want to see the rest of your senior year to make sure you didn't slack off?</p>

<p>17) How many colleges do I apply to? </p>

<p>18) Is acceptance rate of colleges a good indication of how good they are?</p>

<p>19) When are you supposed to type all of these essays and do all of this work?</p>

<p>20) Where would you write like what clubs you were in and what events you participated in and what not? Like how do colleges see this?</p>

<p>21) When do I need to know where I want to go?</p>

<p>22) Does anyone apply to colleges they haven't visited? As there are colleges I want to go to, but cannot simply visit because they are too far away and it is inconvenient with the work I am doing all day. </p>

<p>23) Overall on my transcript I have 3 C's. A C+ and a C Freshman year (in science courses) which my guidance counselor said was okay because my grades have been on an upward trend. I then got a C in a math course Junior year in a math class which I found to be impossible so does this completely ruin my chances of getting into a good college. I do go to a challenging school and take a challenging course load, and otherwise my grades are all in the B's and A's. I just don't want to be completely screwed.</p>

<p>24) Also If i am applying early decision/action per say (Because i want to get into colleges earlier) when would one start working on all of this? I just feel like i need more guidance?</p>

<p>As you can tell, I am really new to the applying to college scene and these are just some of the questions that have popped into my head.</p>

<p>I am nervous about applying to college as I feel there is just so much I do not know and everyone i talk to seems to understand where they want to go and such. People ask me where I want to go and I simply have no idea.</p>

<p>I know it is a lot and I appreciate and thank those of you that answer my questions. I really just want to get ahead of all of this and get caught up.</p>

2

<p>I’m going to select a few questions and answer those:

  1. you can do it online. you can do it by phone. you can schedule interviews for when you’ll be on campus–this is not a requirement. you can later schedule alumni interviews if you cannot make it back to campus. Interviews give the school a way to get a feel for you and you to get a feel for the school.
  2. the Common Application becomes available online on August 1 and you can begin filling it out any time after that.
  3. you estimate your grades on your apps and put down the grades on any standardized tests you have taken. when you apply to a school, you ask your registrar or office records at your school to send your grades out to this or that school. You can do this incrementally at most schools.
  4. generally you select some colleges to receive your scores on the day you take the test, and then you can contact the boards at any time to have them send out scores to more schools or to send out a second set of scores.
  5. the answer to this question depends on whether you’re going to take one or both again and that depends on what schools you want to attend and if you are full pay.
  6. because it is a copy. the official scores go only to the schools. in other words, you cannot copy those scores and send them to the school.
  7. I don’t know.
  8. You know the colleges by, first, knowing what your family can afford to spend and what colleges will expect them to spend. You know the colleges, second, by whether or not they have your major interests, are about the right size for you, have a campus you really like, are [not too] far from home, etc. Choosing a college is a process of finding a school that has much of #2 and all of #1. If you cannot afford it, you’re not going there. You determine #1 by asking your parents how much they can contribute each year to your education and then running the net price calculators at each school’s website to see what you can afford.
  9. there’s a forum on CC for this
  10. I don’t know.
  11. Those colleges are explicitly asking you to demonstrate your interest in the school. One way to demonstrate interest is to show you’ve done your homework about the school and know something about its campus, departments, history, etc. These are colleges you’re going to have to constantly reassure of your continuing interest by doing interviews, reaching out to your admissions officer, visiting their website (yep, some schools count the visits from certain IPs)</p>

<p>Time for dinner.</p>

3

<ol>
<li><p>College visits are good to do if you can. They help you get used to the campus and help you determine whether you really would enjoy going to school there or not by seeing the surroundings and asking talking to current students; they do also show the admissions office that you have interest in the school and are often good opportunities to have an interview. However, if the school is just too far away or too expensive to visit, you don’t have to completely rule it out. Many schools have virtual tours on their websites, and some will be able to set you up to email a current student to ask questions.</p></li>
<li><p>The time to write applications varies for everyone; I know some people who slapped theirs together a week before deadlines. That isn’t encouraged, though. Generally, I think you should start drafting your essays as soon as possible once the prompts are released. You want to have plenty of time to rewrite them and get your teachers and peers to review them. The Common App essays are the same as last year, so you can find them online and start whenever you want; supplemental essays will be released at different times and you should check each school’s website for them.</p></li>
<li><p>You use the Common App to give your basic information, to self-report test scores, to list extracurriculars…most of your work will be done on the CA. Recommendation letters can be sent through the CA, but it will depend on the individual teachers you ask as to whether the do this or mail a paper copy. Transcripts aren’t supplied by you, they have to come directly from your school; talk to your guidance counselor about getting them sent out.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes. When you take the test, it will give you the option to send free reports to 3 or 4 (can’t remember exactly, sorry) colleges, and beyond that you have to pay to report to any extra schools. Check the ACT website for details on doing so.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m not actually familiar enough with ACT/SAT equivalents to help you on this one, sorry.</p></li>
<li><p>That is your final score, for sure. It’s not an official REPORT, meaning you can’t copy that sheet and mail it off to colleges to report your scores. It’s intended for your personal use and isn’t an official document.</p></li>
<li><p>When you report your scores, you will be reporting by testing dates. If you report a score from October 25, just as an example, it will include everything you did when you took the Oct. 25 test. If you took the writing portion then, it’s automatically included.</p></li>
<li><p>Start with colleges in your state. Check out their websites, look into finances, and visit the campuses if possible. Beyond that, just do a google search for colleges with good programs in your intended major. Ask your family or family friends about colleges they went to. collegeapps.about.com is a great site that gives basic descriptions and details about many colleges. The College Board also has a great website (bigfuture.collegeboard.org) where you can narrow down possible colleges based on their location, number of students, tuition, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>If your essays adhere to the given Common App prompts or supplementary essay prompts and are within the word limits, you can use them. You’re going to want to edit and rewrite them a lot to make sure they’re the best they can be before using them to apply, but if you have something to start from, that’s great. Personally, I would write new ones, but it’s up to you.</p></li>
<li><p>The Common App prompt are the same as last year. New supplementary essays for individual colleges won’t be out until they open up applications, which probably won’t happen until at least August, and the prompt release dates may vary for different colleges. Check their individual websites.</p></li>
<li><p>If you won’t be happy at a school, you shouldn’t be applying. “Just to see if you get in” really isn’t a valid reason to apply to a school and it’s a waste of time and money that could be spent applying to a place that you really love. You should be able to find at least one thing you would enjoy at every school you apply to, whether it’s the campus, the surrounding city, a particular class or professor you want to take, a sport, or an extracurricular club; if you don’t have at least one reason to attend, don’t apply. Colleges want students who are passionate and have legitimate interest in attending.</p></li>
<li><p>Once you sign up for the Common App, it will make a lot more sense. Many schools use the Common App; the way it works is that you fill out all of your basic info in the CA, and it saves that to your account. This will be submitted to every school with the click of a button when the time comes. Then, you list the colleges you’re applying to, and it gives you a similar drop-down-list and fill-in-the-box system to fill out each college’s individual questions and supplemental essays. The CA website is very easy to use, in my opinion, and it organizes everything for you. Some colleges don’t use the CA, and you’ll have to check their websites to see what their individual applications consist of.</p></li>
<li><p>Early Action: You submit your application early, receive an admissions decision early, and can decide whether or not to enroll early. This can be helpful when you have your heart set on one college, as you could possibly receive an admissions decision before you put in time and effort applying to other schools.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Early Decision: Just like Early Action, except you are contractually bound to only apply Early Decision to ONE school, and if you’re accepted, you HAVE to attend that school. DO NOT apply ED to a college that you aren’t absolutely, completely in love with. Also, don’t apply ED to a college you don’t absolutely know you can afford.</p>

<ol>
<li>By applying EA or ED, you’re applying to the very first pool of applicants; the college isn’t going to run out of slots to fill. It’s showing a college that you have an exclusive interest in them, which could help your admission chances if you already have a strong application.</li>
</ol>

<p>Personally, I wouldn’t apply anywhere EA or ED unless I was absolutely sure that it was my top choice and that I would love it there, as it shortens the time you have to write your essays and develop your applications by several weeks.</p>

<p>And yes, EA and ED dates vary by college. Check individual websites for their info.</p>

4

<p>CONT</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’m not particularly familiar with AP score submissions, so I can’t really help here, sorry.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes. Colleges can revoke your admittance if you do poorly senior year.</p></li>
<li><p>The general rule I hear all the time is to apply to nine colleges: three safety schools, three matches, and three reaches. This number will change based on your preferences and options, and that’s fine. Don’t apply to too many, though; you want to have time to fill out their individual supplementary questions/essays well, in addition to the baseline CA information.</p></li>
<li><p>Not necessarily. The Ivies, of course, are notorious for low acceptance rates and high quality curriculums. But there are many schools with medium to low selectivity that are excellent choices. College is really what you make of it; if you try, you can be successful no matter what school you go to, and you really just need to find a school that fits you well in every regard. Always choose fit over prestige.</p></li>
<li><p>You should be working on your application whenever possible; at home, during a free period, after school at the library. Schools don’t give you a free two weeks off to work on college apps, so you have to take time out on your own. Many people say you should spend at least a few hours a week on college research/apps.</p></li>
<li><p>There’s a section of the Common App dedicated to extracurriculars. You list them there.</p></li>
<li><p>May 1st is the National Candidate Reply Date, and you need to choose your college and put a deposit down by then. Admissions decisions are usually released around late March or early April, so you get about a month to decide where to go after hearing back about where you were accepted.</p></li>
<li><p>While college visits are great, don’t rule out a school just because you aren’t able to visit. See #1 ^</p></li>
<li><p>Colleges like seeing improvement. A few C’s freshman year aren’t going to mean way too much if you had good grades from then on.</p></li>
<li><p>I wouldn’t suggest applying early decision anywhere. You don’t seem to have any colleges in mind, and most kids who apply ED already know where they’re applying and have started application work by the time school starts. You’ll be just fine applying Regular Decision.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Definitely just spend time browsing around the web and talking to adults or graduates you know and you’ll get an idea of where you want to apply and how to do it. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Regarding AP Scores
15. You self report your AP scores on your applications. When you take your AP tests next May, you would have already SIR’d (accepted) your college and you would fill the AP forms with your college. All official scores will be sent to the college in July after all the scores are posted.</p>