College apps are stressful. Life is hard. Should I start knitting?
A few things you can do to help relieve stress:
– Truly understand in your heart of hearts that there are tons of amazing colleges and universities out there where you can have a great experience and get where you want to go in life. Do not focus on one or two “dream schools” – the people who do are the ones I see who get most hurt by the process if things do not work out as hoped.
– Develop an application list that gives you a good realistic mix of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (run net price calculators if you need to) and that you would be excited to attend. Be honest with yourself in terms of where you are academically when compiling this list. IMO finding great safety schools is an under-rated but very important part of the process.
– If possible apply to a few schools that are non-binding early action and/or rolling. For both of my kids getting an acceptance in hand before the end of December took a ton of stress off of the process.
–And if you like knitting, go for it (for me knitting would probably add to my stress level LOL) !!
I would add to start early to Happy1’s list. If you can get the bulk of the common app done in August, it will aleviate a lot of stress once school starts.
The most stressful thing, and I feel that it’s partially my fault, is that my kid failed to realize until the last minute almost literally, that schools on the Common App usually have their own questions. Actually he probably knew, but just didn’t get to it until the very end which made things more stressful for me because I had to review things at the last minute too, something I hate.
Start getting ready for applications over the summer:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1997324-rising-seniors-what-to-do-this-summer-and-you-will-be-glad-you-did-come-fall.html
There are many, many outstanding colleges/universities in the US. You will attend one of them. So you are good.
It’s just a matter of finding one that is a good fit for YOU. If you approach it with that perspective, then it’s just a fun exercise. Maybe an opportunity to visit places you haven’t been before, if you are looking outside the area where you live.
When you get to college, you will meet amazing students, amazing faculty, and amazing staff.
So explore schools that seem interesting, apply to ones that seem great to YOU, you’ll get accepted to one.
Good luck and have fun!
Don’t talk about the schools you’re applying to with your classmates as much as you’d like, seriously. I know nothing about you, but chances are there’s going to be someone in your grade who will apply to HYP and meanwhile you may find that Flagship U or 70% acceptance rate LAC is the perfect school for YOU. There might be some shame in that—for me that was the most stressful part of the process because everyone seemed less unsure/on top of it/applying to better schools. Comparison will kill you especially in the age of social media.
I think that’s the only thing I’d change about my high school college application process.
Put the summer between Junior and Senior years to good use:
- Get your Common App essay, and then any other essays, done.
- Decide on a reasonable college list. In my mind, "reasonable" means a couple of safeties that you KNOW you can get into, that you KNOW you can afford, and that you KNOW you could be happy attending. For top students, this can be a bit of an issue, since they sometimes tie their self worth into getting into a college that's a reach. Don't be that student, the one who thinks that any particular college is unworthy of them.
- Pare down that list to a reasonable number-- for many people, that means ballpark 10-12.
- Complete your Common App. It opens on August 1.
- Decide on where you'll apply EA or ED-- and know the difference between them. Have those apps ready to go at the start of the school year. Get the others in by Halloween.
I did a lot of things to help me cope with College applications.
I live in LA so I would go to the beach with friends like every week or so.
Read a book a week (and still do to this day, it’s a great way to get creative)
Go to parties
I also did get high sometimes when doing my UC essays because I turn into a great writer.
(catch me in UC Irvine in the fall lol)
Relax, make a schedule.