glassesarechic

Great advice.

Best way to do this? Start (and finish) your essays/apps this summer.

lavieenrose0110

I am in the class of 2013 and just started on my college applications. All I want to say here is thank you for all these splendid tips I would have never known without going on CC!

PAGRok

I'd recommend starting to think about college applications in summer, but never finishing them! So many things changed for me during my senior year, that my apps would not have been the same if I had finished them in the summer. This was the same for most of my friends as well, we all discovered what we wanted during our senior year, even without knowing we still had to discover it. In many ways the application process, for me at least, did not ruin my senior year, but made it!

ambition44

^^the above is definitely true. I started a lot of my essays over the summer, but ended up changing some at the last minute. Looking back, I don't regret anything!

UFEddy

Thanks a bunch! I'm getting emotionally ready for August, when the madness will begin.

Best of luck to all Cof2013's out there!

ecocraycray

definitely agree with #2 and 4... in some ways they coincide with each other. if you truly have passion about what you do, then you will succeed in standing out from the crowd. sounds cliche, but it's worked for many of my friends.

another good piece of advice is to be concise but meaningful on your essays. most of the colleges i applied to put a cap of 500 words per essay and i know people who struggled because they just used too many words but didn't say enough.

sasbmar

I agree totally about the essays. It's amazing how little you can actually say in 500 words, but I think it is very good for every student's writing skills to be so limited when you have so much to say. I know that many of my teachers talked about being concise and to the point, but I never fully understood what that meant until I wrote my college essays. When I'd finish up with an essay and be more than 100 words over the word limit, I really learned what it meant to take out superfluous words and details.

rdfaja

I've written an article highlighting some tips that help with getting into a selective college. My alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, is some what selective in picking and choosing its undergraduate student body.

Ryan Faja: Tips on Applying to University of Wisconsin

Benedict01

This is such a nice reading!
thanks!

charlieschm

Look for at least one safety school that does rolling admissions and get that application in as early as possible. It is much less stressful if you have at least one acceptance under your belt while you wait for the other admissions decisions.

charlieschm

Floridadad: You are correct that it has become easier for out of state students to be accepted to the top California publics, because they need the tuition dollars. However, UVa is need-blind in admissions, and has a strict cap of 30% on out of state and international undergrad students.

Therefore, if a student does not need financial aid, that by itself will not help them be admitted to UVa. It will help them be admitted to a number of private colleges.