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What do I need in my application?
orange peel
470 replies177 threads Member
Hi Sorry if this is in the wrong section
I am doing this independently and Im not sure what exactly you need to apply to colleges. This is what I think I need:
-1 College Essay (Go to their Site to see prompt)
-Transcript (Guidance Office)
-What else?
And do I send it in a letter myself? How do I pay for it? Where do I tell them my E.C.s and SAT scores?
17 repliesI am doing this independently and Im not sure what exactly you need to apply to colleges. This is what I think I need:
-1 College Essay (Go to their Site to see prompt)
-Transcript (Guidance Office)
-What else?
And do I send it in a letter myself? How do I pay for it? Where do I tell them my E.C.s and SAT scores?
Post edited by orange peel on
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Replies to: What do I need in my application?
I am right there with you. My parents are indifferent at this point and my guidance counselor is clueless.
Do some schools let you do both? And if so, is it better to use their personalized application so they think you like the school more and are more personalized?
1. Application (may be common app for many but most public universities and a number of privates still do not use common app; also many that accept common app may require you to also submit a supplement app of their own). Applications are now generally done and submitted on-line.
2. Official test scores -- you usually have to have them sent by the College Board (SAT and SAT II) or ACT (for the ACT). Whether you have to take and provide SAT II scores and how many depends on college (most do not require or even use SAT IIs but, on the other hand, most of your high ranked colleges require them). You need to check with each college's admission section on line to see what is required. Note there are some colleges that do not require test scores for admission and a small number that give you the option of providing SAT IIs or AP acores without having to submit SAT or ACTscores. Also, some will accept scores placed on your transcript without your having to send official scores.
3. Essays -- once again whether they are required and how many and on what topics depends on the college. Many public universities don't even want essays.
4. Recommendation letters: whether you need them and how many depends on college, public universities mostly do not require or want them; private universities often require them particularly any that are high ranked. Usually they are sent directly by the teachers or through the high school counselor. Note, some colleges (including a number of public universities) have a counselor's form sometimes called a "counselor's recommendation" you need to have filled out by your counselor and sent in. Usually those are not really recommendation letters but verification forms -- verifying you are a student, what courses you are taking senior year, other record info.
5. Official high school transcript -- you need to order it sent by high school; often this is through your counselor and counselor may send it with a counselor's form. One notable exception to the offical transcript is the University of California (all sites) which does not require an official transcript until after you have been admitted and finished high school -- the app has spaces to self-report all your grades.
Go searching through college sites and the even the common app site for info on eaqch college. One thing to also look for is when you can start applying to a univeristy, its deadlines, whether it has early decision or early action (and thus separate deadlines for those). Adopt the rule that you should not procrastinate and wait for a deadline to prepare your materials, including because you may need to order some things sent, as noted above, that are not the application itself.
After you apply, and if you are going to seek finanicial aid, you will need to submit a FAFSA (mostly your parents financial info). It is a government form found at fafsa.ed.gov. Depending on college you may also have to submit a CSS Pofile -- a College Board financial aid form if the college requires it (the form is here: https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp ) -- or the college may have its own financial aid form. A college may also require a copy of your parents' tax return. There are deadline dates for submitting the financial aid forms and those can differ from college to college so you need to get that info off their sites too.
Also, after you apply, many colleges require a mid-year report when you complete first semester senior year, essentially meaning that you have to have your senior first semester grades sent and possibly a form that verifies which courses you are taking second semester.
On quick review, the only public universities that appear to do so are SUNY (State University of New York, several different campuses) and the Virginia and Vermont public universities. In the US a "public" university is one set up, controlled, and funded (at least in part) by a State. Your question is one that is not easy to actually answer because as US residents, we just almost always automatically recognize which ones are public universities when we hear a name and never have to really think about answering the question: how do you know. Generally any college named "University of" followed by the name of a State (e.g., Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, California) or Name of a State followed by "University (e.g., Indiana University) is going to be a public university but of course there are others that don't follow that set word pattern. (Note, though not really an exception, New York University is a private college but it was named after the city not the State) If you are looking at any particular college's site, just go to the part that sets out amount of tuition -- if it shows two tuition numbers, a lower one for in-state residents and a higher one for out-of-state applicants, it is a public college.
Many public universities are huge and essentially little cities within themselves (student populations can be in the 25,000 to 50,000 range). They tend to have many lower level courses with large numbers (often hundreds) of students in the class. They are heavily attended by residents of the state in which they sit, often making up 85% or more of all students at the campus.