I’m a high school junior starting the college application process and I’d appreciate any tips or suggestions!
Some topics I’m especially interested in are how to decide which teachers to ask for letters of rec, when to start what, how to write essays, etc.
Thanks in advance!
I’m a rising senior and, while I don’t know a lot, I can help with a few things. First, ask teachers EARLY- by end of junior year. Start brainstorming common app over the summer, Get school-specific supplements in August. Aim to have most of your essays finished by the time school starts.
How I approached my college apps:
Start of junior year - researched and ranked colleges that I want to attend
2 months before junior year ended - asked my teachers for LoRs in person. 1 math, 1 science, 1 history. Could be different depending on where you want to go.
Summer - started common application essay.
November - finished common app essay. Started supplemental essays.
December 27th - finished supplements. Completed common app. Final checks over essays.
January - applications submitted.
Make sure you have multiple people (family, friends, teachers, guidance counselors, maybe even college professors) read and critique your essays.
I was heavily involved in research so I kind of put off my supplements until ~December. I remember spending my Christmas break writing essays, not fun! You should start your supplements a bit earlier, like October.
Here is what my D16 says (I whole heartedly agree)…
- If you can, apply to one college with a rolling admission early, like by October 1 (and make sure it is one that you would truly be willing to attend and one that is a safety or match so it is likely you are accepted). You'd be surprised what a relief it is to have one school under your belt, it really seemed to take the pressure off while completing the remaining applications.
- Follow up, follow up, follow up. Do no rely on your guidance counselor/teachers to get recommendations done or transcripts sent with one request. Check your application portals regularly to make sure things have been received by the college. Even the common app show when recommendations and counselor reports have been received.
- Make sure you are keeping track of your deadlines. If you really want to make it easy on yourself artificially set ALL of your deadlines at the earliest one that you have and set a reminder 2 weeks out that the deadline is approaching.
- Really, just get it done early (all of it. essays, recommendations, applications), the earlier the better. This is not the time to procrastinate. I had all (15) done by mid October. It was nice to be done when all of my friends were scrambling in early December to get done.
- Don't apply to 15 schools, it's not necessary. In hindsight 8 would have been plenty.
- Essays - Don't go with your first essay idea. Put something in your essay that showcases your personality. Show them,don't just tell them a story. Cut out "extra" words and use conjunctions, it saves on word count. Read your essay backwards when looking for spelling and grammar errors.
- Recommendations - Don't be nice to your teachers just to have them write a recommendation, they really see through that tactic. Don't just rely on a teacher that is "popular", they often have lots of recommendations to write. Don't be afraid to ask a teacher who gave you a B for a recommendation, you might be surprised at the great recommendation they are willing to write (obviously talk with them first and confirm that they feel able to give you a good review).
- If you haven't already set up a separate email account to handle just your college applications stuff.
It never hurts to start early. I’ll give you a basic rundown of how my college application process went:
Junior Year:
-Requested my reccs
-Wrote my main essay (you should start this early because you’ll be constantly editing and revising it most likely; it’s good to have time to do so)
-Took my SATs and SAT IIs (gave me more time in Senior Year to focus on other parts of my app)
-Looked into the schools I was interested in, started writing preliminary drafts for supplements.
Senior Year:
-Worked on Common App. I recommend submitting your app WAY in advance (at most, a week before the deadline).
-Made sure the teachers/GC were writing my reccs (Very important, if you assume a teacher is just focused on you and won’t forget a request then you’ll be in a tight spot).
Listen to @labegg. Excellent list of suggestions.
Do the last item first. Set up a dedicated email address (use Gmail) just for college application process. When you take the ACT/SAT/etc. give this email address.
Ask teachers for LORs spring of junior year. Do it in person. Follow up with an email or written note. Give them a short resume of your interests and what you want to study.
You don’t need to start and finish the college essay early but at least start writing about yourself. I got the workbook Write Out Loud for my child - she didn’t do the entire book, just a few exercises. It helped her generate essay ideas and approaches. Start writing as soon as you know the prompts but you don’t have to settle on a topic or approach until later in the summer.
D also did the apply to all on one early date. At first, we got a huge calendar (six months on one side) and mapped out all the deadlines and when to do each application - way too complicated and stressful (high school work/assignments get in the way). D submitted to six of seven schools on Oct 15 (earliest deadline was October 31st). She received her first acceptance in early November and had at least two by Thanksgiving. Other kids applied to rolling admission schools and had acceptances by September or October, insanely early. This made a low stress senior year, even with reaches.
Do all the administrative stuff early and all at once. Don’t try to time things with the application. D had a final list by August before senior year. She requested test scores, the GC letter of recommendation and transcripts be submitted to her schools in August/September.
Good luck.