<p>list away!</p>
<p>work on your college essays this summer while you have some time. the fall is going to be very busy no matter what your extracurriculars are!</p>
<p>Don't commit to a school without visiting (this includes applying ED).</p>
<p>Apply to more universities than necessary so you get more options. I stupidly only applied to three when I now realize I should have made a bigger investment in filling more applications. </p>
<p>Also don't slack off first semester senior year. I didn't and my rank rose from being in the top 5% to top 2% which ultimately helped me get into the specific school at my university.</p>
<p>Be open minded when it comes to considering schools of interest - the ''best'' is not always the 'best' for everyone.</p>
<p>Enjoy your senior year - take time to breath every once in a while:D</p>
<p>anything else?</p>
<p>Understand a deadline is not the day you're "supposed" to mail it on.</p>
<p>Use this rule with everything from college applications to scholarship applications.</p>
<p>^^^ Ditto. I procrastinated like CRAZY during the whole thing and just completely stressed myself out.</p>
<p>Don't pour your entire heart and soul into one college. The decision process is unpredictable, and setting yourself on one place often leaves you disappointed in the end. Keep an open mind and take everything in stride.</p>
<p>Get everything done WELL AHEAD OF TIME. LisaG and Opie are right.</p>
<p>Also, by spreading out the work you do (instead of waiting until last minute and doing it all at once), you'll have some more free time or time to relax. Use it wisely. You'll already have enough stress worrying about whether you'll get into your top choice colleges and keeping grades up.</p>
<p>don't apply to any school that you wouldn't want to attend. </p>
<p>sounds obvious, but i saw lots of posts like this this spring:</p>
<p>where should I go? I applied to Harvard (denied), Stanford (denied), MIT (waitlisted), Chicago (waitlisted), NYU (GSP program :( ) Lehigh (in, but don't wanna go), and Rutgers (really don't wanna go). Are there any top schools still taking apps?</p>
<p>Have a clear conversation with your parents about how much they're willing to pay</p>
<p>Make sure to apply to your state flagship u</p>
<p> apply to the schools you want to apply to. rankings, reviews, guidebooks... these things should be aids, nothing more, nothing less. they don't know you, they don't measure 'personal fit', and therefore, they shouldn't be decision-makers.</p>
<p> when in doubt, just apply. unless you cannot financially do so. no harm is done, and even if the decision ends up as a rejection, im sure it beats the hopeless 'what if' feeling.</p>
<p> let your interest permeate your application. don't apply on a whim to a school because you're not sure you would go there. surprisingly, from the time you apply to the time mail starts filtering back.. you may fall in love with a school you didn't originally know much about. you may kick yourself come spring for not completing the app more thoroughly.</p>
<p> and now for the cliche of all cliches... WRITE GOOD ESSAYS. be personal. take risks. speak in your voice. give the adcoms something to work with. -- Anymore, admissions has become so competitive that good stats and EC's just don't cut it anymore. They put you on the playing field, but after that, you need to set yourself apart by being yourself.</p>
<p>lastly, relax. i know, easy for me to say now that im done with it all. but just find comfort in knowing that (even if you can't/don't/won't realize so at the time) everything will happen for a reason and you will end up where youre meant to be.</p>
<p>and of course,
THE BEST OF LUCK. to all of you. cheers.</p>
<p>Save all of your essays you write for scholarships/schools, becuase you will be able to recycle them.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Don't let anyone tell you that going to a state school is a bad choice. There is nothing wrong with state schools.</p></li>
<li><p>If any part of the application is "OPTIONAL" do it anyway. </p></li>
<li><p>Don't stress about admissions. Everything happens for a reason. If you don't get in somewhere look at it as the schools loss, not yours.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Give others the same amount of consideration you want them to give you...remember that millions of others are in the exact same position you are. Apply to enough schools to where you have options, but don't apply to places that you would never actually attend (for financial, personal, or other reasons) because there is someone out there that would give anything to have your spot. I know it's tempting to "apply just to see if I get in," but from personal experience, it's painful to see someone doing that for your dream school that you got rejected from. </p>
<p>Make sure that the schools you apply to truly make you happy and that if you got into all the ones you applied to, you'd have one of the hardest decisions of your life to make. </p>
<p>And the common "don't slack off." Just don't. ;)</p>
<p>I must emphasize this: keep your grades up second semester of senior year. If you don't, you'll probably end up worrying all summer about whether you're going to get rescinded or not.</p>
<p>the most important advice I'd want to pass along is to find a great safety.</p>
<p>For a bunch of reasons (uniformed advisors, enthusiastic parents, not knowing how deep the pool is for competition at selective schools, etc) a lot of kids overestimate their chances of getting into a selective college. And for the elite colleges it is difficult for almost everyone. Yet kids spend hours obsessing over ivy league and similar, also a good deal of research into colleges with competitive admissions. And the safety is an afterthought, usually the state school.</p>
<p>Then just like the swallows coming back to Capistrano, every spring there are anguished posts from kids who only have their safety(s) as options, and they write "I don't even want to go there!" </p>
<p>Don't let this happen to you. A safety may not have the same "wow" factor as Amherst or Yale, but if you first figure out what you want in your college experience you can find a safety that provides it. This should be your 1st priority in thinking about colleges, IMHO. Worry about elites after you've found one rock-solid school you would be excited to attend and that you're pretty sure will accept you.</p>
<p>Truth is, there are 3000+ 4-year colleges in the US and outside of 100 or so the rest accept the majority of their applicants! One or more is bound to be right for you.</p>
<p>Get a job right now if you don't already have one, I think working as much as I did while balancing everything else really helped in appealing to colleges. Also, don't slack off, right now I'm worried about my final report to the school cause for some reason I just couldn't get things together in my history class. So good luck and always reach for the stars, for even if you don't hit it, at least you're reaching for something.</p>
<p>Utilize online applications... often times they are free! Also, make sure you fill out a common app online... a lot of schools are using one common application for students to use, it will save you a lot of time and money!!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.setonhill.edu%5B/url%5D">www.setonhill.edu</a> THIS WAY UP!</p>
<p>DO EVERYTHING you can to improve your overall GPA. Take advanced classes if you know you will work hard to get an A in them. Your 1st semester of senior year is your last chance to prove to admissions councelors that you are strong candidate. In addition grade trends show your commitment so try your hardest to earn the highest grades possible with as many advanced courses. I believe my senior year of high school created a solid trend. I did poorly in 10th grade and my junior and senior year proved that I wasnt out of the race by any means. </p>
<p>Also you'll hear a lot of people slack off second semester senior year...DONT. Maintain your GPA so that you are at a B average and are not failing any classes regardlessly if the classes are require or not.</p>