<p>wow. I can't imagine next year when I'll be filling out applications and waiting for decisions!! i will be so nervous, its so scary =O</p>
<p>^ i know right...</p>
<p>GO ''09!!!</p>
<p>Just to give you a heads up: Finish as many applications as you can during the summer. I know it's hard/weird, but fill out the common app as soon as it comes out in July. REALLY. Especially if you're loading up on APs/IBs, blah blah blah. A lot of stuff comes up senior year and college apps are just another distraction... bleh.</p>
<p>^ Good advice. I did my entire UChicago app the night it was due, and while it worked out in the end, it's not something I would recommend. Even if you're like me and completely lack time management skills, now is the time to learn.</p>
<p>lol it's not so bad. i feel like waiting all the way till late march is even worse than the actual filling out of hte apps. it feels sooo far away.</p>
<p>I've basically made EVERY SINGLE MISTAKE KNOWN TO MAN regarding college apps, so I'm pretty experienced in the 'what not to do' department. Leaving apps to the last minute is definitely stressfull because I can tell you right now that the deadlines fall in the worst possible places.</p>
<p>Take my example:</p>
<p>Nov 15th, ED- School musical plus death of someone reasonably close to the entire community</p>
<p>Jan 1st- Just got rejection from ED school, and even though you think Christmas vacation is a great time to get things done, it isn't.</p>
<p>Jan 15- Midterms/Finals</p>
<p>Really. Everything that can go wrong, will. This includes commonapp getting things late (It's in the EST timezone, guys, and it tends to break down during big application times), postage, school sending information...</p>
<p>Haha, I kid you not. I made every mistake so if you need advice next year, my college butt will probably be visiting CC every once and a while so I can giggle on the inside while lounging in my dorm room- I should be able to help.</p>
<p>The application process is really quite simple if you complete it with time to spare before the deadline. Then all you have to do is keep your grades up and wait for the accpected/rejected letters to pour on in!</p>
<p>My advice would definitely to get started in the summer. Fill out the core of your CoA and work on your Personal Statement. Get that edited and done so you can worry about your supplements. Start the supp. essays of schools you're planning on applying to as soon as possible. January sounds far from July, but those six months will fly when you're stressed out!</p>
<p>This advice is very helpful :) Class of '09!</p>
<p>If I could do it all over again, I'd definitely have started my essays at least a month or two in advance, and worked consistently on them until I had done all I possibly could.</p>
<p>I looked back on my common app the other day and found a few typos, and stuff like that's really unsettling haha! I ended up sending all of mine in the day of or the day before!</p>
<p>Do your app freakishly early.</p>
<p>That way when you are completely ADD and research schools months after submitting your apps you can still add schools. (or maybe that's just me who added a school after its deadline, and kept researching beyond that)</p>
<p>Also, if you do a fall sport you won't die trying to fit stuff into that period between the end of your sports season and deadlines, especially for ED/EA. It doesn't work very well.</p>
<p>Also, if possible APPLY TO TONS OF SCHOOLS EA (if the schools you are applying to offer that, and if you have an ED school, they don't prohibit it). I wish I would have done more EA plans, as now I get a long stressful wait.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with the Early Action advice. 4 down early, and only one to go regular. It's a really nice feeling.</p>
<p>I agree about the EA thing- as long as you aren't waiting for news from an EA/ED school to fill out your regular decision apps, ED/EA are tons o' fun.</p>
<p>08 .</p>
<p>Here's one: DO NOT RELY ON GETTING INTO YOUR ED SCHOOL. </p>
<p>I assumed I would get in to my ED school and didn't even bother applying to other schools until I got my rejection letter on Dec. 15th (ouch). It was a wake up call and I had to hurry up and get my counselor to write recommendations and send in transcripts and such for my other schools before the break and I spent my vacation trying to complete essays before the Jan.1st-3rd deadlines. </p>
<p>Seriously kids, don't assume anything. Better to be safe than sorry. </p>
<p>I mean it. D:<</p>
<p>I got all of my apps done early. Except for 1, and a scholarship app... I assumed that I would have plenty of time during the winter break (both had Jan. 15 deadlines).</p>
<p>BIG mistake. The last thing I (or anyone I know) wanted to do during break was college app related things and ended up leaving both until the last minute...</p>
<p>while i SO agree with the "get it done early early early" sentiment, i would like to add a caveat:</p>
<p>i changed my mind about a lot of my schools at the very last minute. i thought i knew what i wanted, but i changed a lot senior year and by christmas break i had a different idea than i had spring break of junior year, and my list needed some serious modification. apps can get expensive, and if i had submitted my apps way early i might have ended up spending even more money than i did, and i would have had schools that i now wouldnt even consider going to. i guess the advice here is, apply early, but be prepared for the reality that what you truly think you want could change.</p>
<p>Start a general "Topic of your Choice" personal statement ASAP. Seriously, it's not fun sitting at home, while all your friends are chilling, struggling to come up with something brilliant a week before a deadline. Get the time while you can.</p>
<p>I want to offer my advice, too.</p>
<p>DO NOT PUT OFF SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS! They require essays, too. I'm rushing to put together an application for the UCLA alumni scholarship due on the 20th. x_x The two essays out of the three that I have finished so far I think came out pretty well, despite having written them in a short amount of time. Buuuut, I still wouldn't recommend waiting until long after your college applications are turned in to start scholarship applications.</p>
<p>Ah, yup, that too, Inspiration08.</p>
<p>Fresh/Soph year I thought I was going to Penn State. Hahah no.</p>
<p>Junior year for some reason I really liked Princeton and then Columbia (big jump, but that might be something that happens with all first gens?).</p>
<p>Senior year I LOVED Swarthmore and then branched out to other LACs after ED rejection- for a second I considered Dartmouth but at the end I applied to almost all LACs, no Ivies, and no huge state schools. In Junior year I was way way too concerned about prestige over fit- DUMB idea.</p>