Don’t apply to a bunch of schools just for the sake of applying to a bunch of schools.
As a high school senior, I went a little bit application crazy and kept applying to more and more schools (to “give myself options”).
I honestly don’t recommend following in my footsteps. It’s a waste of time and money, not to mention the fact that giving yourself TOO many options can be overwhelming. As long as you have a couple safeties, a couple matches, and a couple reaches that you genuinely like, that should be more than enough (IMO). There’s no need to apply to 12 schools like I did. In retrospect, I wish I had cut that number in half.
Start creating a resume early on in high school. Update it with every EC you’re in, awards, etc. It’ll really help when it comes time to fill out the Common App.
Be yourself in essays, not the person you think the admission officers want to see. Same goes for ECs, do ECs you love, not the ones you think will make you competitive for top colleges.
Colleges like honest applicants, they don’t want boring robots. And if they reject you for being yourself, why on earth would you want to go to that school anyway?
I wish I took an intreast in colleges before my senior year because I think it would have helped me pick colleges i really loved. Do all the chessey tours, and really look at a colleges that you want to commit yourself to not just the name.
I would do all early admissions and an early decisions – it is a load off my friends who did; its March 5th and I have no idea where i’ll be next year. You might be deferred but at least you will know if you got in ur saftey school. And do look into those.
Since most of my “I wish I had knowns” regarding college have been stated, I’ll mention some financial aid ones:
LOOK AT THE REQUIREMENTS AND KEEP TRACK OF DEADLINES. I mean this goes for everything, but this is super important. Also tell your parents the deadlines so that they aren’t doing the CSS profile in a day because I couldn’t read/remember to tell them.
Tell BOTH parents the requirements, especially if you have a non-custodial parent
Scholarship search WAY earlier than fall of senior year
From post #219: "I would recommend setting up an email address for your child to use just for college correspondence. "
Great advice! There were so many e-mails from colleges, it was difficult for DS to find the relevant ones from colleges he applied to, vs from the college ads, vs from his teachers’ homework assignments. If I could have checked the college e-mails for my DS, it would have helped him immensely, and relieved my anxiety when I wondered why we had not heard about FA from a particular college.
In reference to the above post (286) and the post they are referencing (219) I would also say once you choose your schools you’ve applied to tag them in your email. GMAIL does this really easily, and make them different colors (I made them school colors lol). It makes it A LOT easier than searching for your username/password from two months ago, or that one correspondence with financial aid that is from X university not Y.
I totally agree with others said earlier, start everything early: build your resume early, visit schools before senior year, take the SAT early, and try the ACT exam too.
But most importantly, before you begin your search, take the time to figure out which are the best schools for you rather than which schools are going to impress your friends and family.
The Ivies and some other top specialized schools are in a league of their own. After that, pretty much every other school gives every student the opportunity to grow, learn and succeed. I saw members of my own family get caught up in the frenzy to apply to some Big Name schools. It seems absurd now. Find the schools that offer you the most opportunities to pursue what ever you are passionate about.
Although i haven’t applied yet, being a junior, i’m banking on having passion. If you have a perfect SAT, all a’s, leadership in all clubs, but no particular passion, ur not going to get in. All the asians seniors at my school are currently panicking because only one has gotten in anywhere substantial (yale, washu, upenn) and i feel like they all spent too much time making themselves into clones rather than pursuing something they truly liked to do. That is what i am trying to do right now. I applied to some summer programs that i really wanted to go to, and my mom is trying to force ross onto me, but i dont really see an interest there. She doesnt approve of my interest in machines and just hands down engineering and likes using the mind, stuff like that. Idk y, but i dont think it’s rite. Do what you truly like to do, and show it in your apps. That is what i’m going to do…
Love your list. You should be able to imagine yourself happily attending any of the schools you’re applying to, from the safeties to the reaches.
Colleges choose you based on how well you fit in with what they’re looking for,and how much they think you will contribute to their school. The admissions officers know what they’re talking about, and chances are, they’re right whether you agree or not. Trust them to do their job, and trust that you will end up somewhere that’s right for you.
Balance. I see many of my friends who have gotten rejected from colleges saying one of two regretful things: “I should have tried harder and put in the extra effort to get into these schools” or “I could have spent less time studying and gotten accepted to the same schools.” I do not experience either regret because I know that every additional hour I could have spent studying would have taken another hour from my high school experience, and vice versa. Find this balance, and know that no matter where you do or don’t get accepted, you’re content with your personal growth and memories.
If you have to study for hours on end just to get a high C/low B in an honors/AP class, you probably should drop down.
It’s really obvious if you’ve been in CP classes all of high school and are suddenly in 4 APs senior year.
Spend time with friends and family outside of school.
Manage your time wisely between academics, relationships, friends, work, sports, and community service.
None of us are that unique or special.
Don’t apply to 15 schools because chances are you’ll get rejected/waitlisted from 75% of them.
The admissions process is really unpredictable and even the valedictorian gets rejected from several schools that you would consider “safeties” for them.
Visit a few safety schools and make sure you actually like them.
Be honest with yourself throughout the whole process.
I see youguys all say visit before you apply. Would it be bad if you visit after you apply? Thats kinda my only option I don’t have the cash to buy plane tickets or train tickets to colleges I want to visit. I just really read up on them… This is prob gunna sound wierd but the college confessions and college sompliments pages for specific schools may be an indicator about the community. Of course use your judgement in what you let influence you.
Visiting after is a good idea. I took DD on a ton of tours, however I intentionally left a few off list that she applied since it was a high reach. She got in one and not other. We are making plans to visit and she is excited. It will be very interesting where she lands on May 1st.
Also agree with separate email account. DD made one and we both share it. I monitor as well and love being able to check financial information. Also reduces conversation around colleges since we are both informed. Did same with son and he simply changed password once he got to college.
Lacrossemom GREAT idea to share the separate email. Would’ve saved me a heap of headaches as son was not great at checking his emails and of course as the mom I was pacing.
My 2 cents worth is to not be afraid to reach. S applied to a variety of schools with scholarships from all, but the school he thought was the greatest reach came up with the best deal.
Also to parents of performing arts students, go on vacation from the last day of auditions until March 31st to distract yourself from the torture of waiting
<ol>
<li>Discuss colleges with your parents, but don’t let them be the driving factor. If they’re paying, let them know about finances, and allow input. Compromise, but your parents should never decide on a college for you.</li>
<li>There are more colleges in the world than you think. Do your research, and do not focus on the names.</li>
<li>The only thing you should do for colleges is take standardized tests (like the SAT, SAT IIs). If you’re joining clubs, doing internships, research, etc. for the sake of an acceptance letter from Stanford, then you are doing it wrong.</li>
</ol>
Academic matches and financial matches are two very different categories of application. I have to disagree with the “don’t apply to 12 colleges” advice if financial aid is a deal-breaker for you. In the current admissions climate, many applicants this year are being waitlisted or rejected from colleges they thought were matches. Too few schools, and you may have no choice but your last. I have seen many of my son’s friends in this position this year.
For us, 10 to 12 applications was a reasonable number: a combination of safeties, matches and reaches. Aid can vary substantially and you may be accepted at a “match” school you love, but not receive enough aid to attend. You may be waitlisted at a school you thought was a safety, probably (you will never truly know why) because you are high need. Generous merit scholarships may also be worth the risk of applying to a school, as they can be substantial, but they are just that - risks. There are no guarantees.
Visit every single school you apply to, if at all possible. This is based on years of watching students return home from a semester or year at a school they never visited, unhappy, to spend the next 2 years in their parent’s basement, feeling like failures, deciding where they REALLY should go to school. It also never hurts to show interest in a school.
Communicate with your parent/student. I respect those parents who shared an email address with their sons/daughters, but I prefer to give my children the responsibility of checking their own accounts. However, I assumed some emails would be overlooked so during the height of the application crunch and then again during decision season, we touch base every day about how things are going, what scholarship apps are coming due, outstanding recommendations, etc.
Remember to be kind to yourselves and your son/daughter/parents during this stressful time. It is very possible that this will be their/your last year living at home, and you will remember these months. Remember to laugh and have fun.
What we learned to do with our second child, was to advocate for more EA applications. Knowing she was accepted at 5 schools before Christmas, may with significant merit scholarship offers, made the process less stressful than with older D, who was waiting to hear from many reach schools the last week of March.
What I learned through my oldest daughter’s college application process is that it’s not always about GETTING IN a particular college, it’s PAYING for it!
She applied to a school which might be considered a reach and she got in but there’s no way we’re taking on huge debt for this school and she understands that.
Lots of her friends are getting admitted to schools that their parents either can’t or won’t go into debt for. The kids like to talk big about the schools they’re interested in and got admitted to but the fact is they won’t be going there because those schools don’t offer much merit aid.
Here’s some advice I gave my child but he ignored and wished he had not. Even if you’re so smart and so well read that you blow away all the tests and have a perfect GPA, poor time management and project management skills can bury you in the most challenging college. If you are used to handing in rough drafts and getting all the possible points plus extra credit, not studying for tests and blowing them away, etc. you better be careful where you go to college or spend your summer intensely learning how to break up major projects into pieces, schedule them, schedule study time, schedule sleep, keep track of documents and fulfill administrative tasks, establish a routine for domestic duties such as laundry, etc. You can get by in some colleges on your smarts, but in the top schools you won’t. If you’re not going to learn all that stuff and work your tail off on the management end itself, pick a college where you are smarter and more knowledgeable than most of the students. It can still be prestigious, but it’s better to succeed at a very good college than to fail at the very best college. I personally would recommend the “learn to manage your life” route, but if you’re not going to, pick the school you can succeed at without the misery of finding yourself unprepared from the management end of things. My son had to learn the hard way.