How long does each college app take? Is it just writing the supplements that take time?

I’m applying to colleges next year using the Common App and I’m trying to determine what a reasonable number of schools to apply to is. What part of the application takes the most time? The only parts that seem to vary school-to-school are the writing supplements and the interviews. Everything else seems to just involve sending score reports, transcripts, etc. So if I write all the supplements before October, could I focus solely on my academic classes/extracs after? (Senior yr courseload is looking pretty intense)

I’ve already started most of my “why x” ones. (Thinking around 14 schools right now which does feel like a lot, but I have from now until the due date.)

Hey @kingofcats! I’ll try to answer as best I can and give you a lil advice I try to give to all my soon to be senior friends (that I wish I knew then lol).
So the old saying of “you get out what you put in” really applies in terms of time and effort with the college app process.
What I mean is that the actual filling out of the forms on the common app shouldn’t take much time, but you should put effort into the answers you pick from the drop down list (ie spend time checking out the website for a major you’re interested in at the college, etc ). If your app paints a cohesive and complete-ish portrait of yourself (obviously they won’t have every detail of your life on file), then colleges will take note.

re number of schools: first, check that your hs doesn’t limit the number of schools you can apply to (or type, like public v privates) (mine did, and I know there are others that do this too)

A “reasonable number” varies from person to person and the type of colleges on your list. If you do choose to apply to all 14 of your schools and each of them has at least one supp, then you definitely have to stick to that plan of writing over the summer. That number might be a little on the high end of apps to submit but it isn’t astronomical (though Common App only lets you add 20, PSA).
^getting as much as you can done over the summer is tremendously helpful (usually, and especially if you’re applying to one or more schools early)!!! That said, don’t put excessive pressure on yourself to go finish every supp before school starts (enjoy your last high school summer!) because you’ll still have to carve out some time during the fall to work on college-related stuff anyway. Common App wipes clean and opens for 17-18 on Aug 1 (I believe).

The actual filling out process of the common app and college questions for each app can take from like 10-15 mins to an hourish, depending on what you have to put in and how much time you’re spending on each (w/out supps).

Last but super key thing to help the whole time management during the college process thing: make an Excel spreadsheet or chart or master list to keep track of everything college related (deadlines, finaid, supps, what scores you’re sending etc.) so that as you go through the process you can check things off that you’ve sent/submitted/completed and also so that you can see what you still need to do at any point and have an overview of sorts to check instead of going onto the app each time you forget a deadline or something.

Tldr; time and effort are key, an Excel spreadsheet/master list is your friend.

Hope this helps a lil bit. Best of luck in the fall!

Don’t underestimate having time to mull over prompts and rewrite/ revise your essays. It is not a bad idea to have an adult review them, too. My kid targeted one school’s essays per week. The prompts do change some years, too.

Financial aid paperwork can be very time consuming. Every school has their own deadlines, some have their own forms in addition to the commonly requested ones, and we found some variety in which tax forms they wanted and how to send them.

Writing essays, both the main and the supplement, given how significant these are, take a bulk of your time all depending on how many schools you’re applying to. Filing and preparing financial information, FAFSA, CSS Profile, IDOC AND the school’s own FA applications, may take even more of your (and your parents) time. Then, just when you and your parents think you’ve submitted all the financial documents, some colleges would inevitably contact you to inform you that some documents are either blank or missing. Even as late as March, they may contact you. If it’s as late as March, that’s a pretty good sign, though, as it “may” indicate that you’ve been accepted and that they’re in the final phase of putting the FA offer package together. In any case, putting the quality essays and the FA documents together will take a quite bit of your time and effort.