<p>I’ll speak for my D: Had she come up with a cure for cancer or solved world peace, writing all these @$#! essays for scholarships now sure would be a lot easier.</p>
<p>Major mistakes:
-Not applying to an Early Action or rolling school, like UMichigan…I had a good shot and I could have saved myself this agonizing wait by knowing I had a fallback college.
-Not taking SATs more seriously…I never really did more than a few practice exams, thinking I would just get better if I kept taking the test. Wrong.
-Doing apps too close too the deadline (didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to proofread essays)
-Not interviewing/visiting some schools because they were too far away
-Not being a recruited athlete/not starting sports earlier
-Not having enough faith in my greatest talent (writing)-I should have started submitting to contests and literary magazines earlier in hs</p>
<p>Minor mistakes:
I agree with OP on some of these:
“Sending in my apps a day before the deadline (not really a mistake, but it’s still ghetto).” hahaha
“Sending in midyear reports to schools who don’t ask for them.”</p>
<p>My only mistake, and it’s big, is trying to make Penn’s supplemental essay funny. As I was writing it I was really diggint it, but now that I think about it, I cringe. I refuse to read it again.</p>
<p>It was way, way political as well.</p>
<p>Had wanted to go to NYU since Elementary School, but at the last minute got cold feet and decided not to send in an application. After getting positive responses from the majority of colleges i did apply to, began to truly regret not at least trying to get into NYU.</p>
<p>-Even if I get in as a tranfer i’ll awlways regret not trying the first time around</p>
<p>The only yet hugest mistake I made during the application process: PROCRASTINATION, which resulted in my slap-dash essays, lack of time to prepare for the standardized tests.</p>
<p>That’s all. So, never ever put things off at the last minute unless you want to be regretful :)</p>