First off, My guidance counselor told us to work on our naviance resumes. What are those and do the matter for colleges?
What exactly matters on naviance?
Also, Common App. How do I fill that out?
Finally, application essays. Where do I find what I have to write for each college and how should I write it? Should I just write a word doc or something? What format do I use?
Sorry if these are stupid questions, I’m WAY behind on the application process and I’m freaking out.
Relax, you have some time for the things you are asking about. You can’t even start the Common App for this year yet; it opens on August 1.
The essay prompts are available on the Common App website already; you can Google “common app essay prompts 2015” to find them.
Many colleges have not released their specific prompts yet, but you can go dig around on their admissions website to see if they have yet. Eventually the info is in the Common App (if they are a Common App school). You pick the schools you plan to apply to in the Common App, and you see the option to do a “supplement” for that school. It will tell you the prompts. Some schools don’t change their questions from year to year, but you can’t be sure. And some don’t release them by Aug 1, I remember my D2 didn’t have one of hers til late Sept.
What matters on Naviance depends on how your high school set it up. Probably they are asking you to enter info on ECs, awards, etc, but my guess is that it is for their use and maybe teachers writing recs, probably won’t be sent to schools. But you can ask your GC. You need to pull that info together for the common app anyway.
Put them in Word for now. You can’t indent paragraphs, though.
Take your time, and print out and proofread each app before you submit it. Get an adult to read your essays and provide input. Start tracking due dates for all the colleges you are applying to, including all application materials and financial aid forms (a spreadsheet or calendar is great for this). Try to submit common app items a few days before the due date, as it had been know to crash or slow down at critical times.
Thank you SO much! That made me feel so much better.
And remember that the common app essay has a 650 word limit.