Clearing Up College Questions

It’s that time of the year, seniors! Time is ticking to get that dreadful Common Application submitted. There’s no time to waste, so here are the five most important steps to take so your college application process runs as smoothly as possible. 

Creating a College List

Developing a fantastic college list is one of the first steps in the college application process. When people think of choosing colleges, many only look at their academics and prestige level. While these factors are important, you need to keep in mind that you will be surrounded by the campus for the next four years of your life! Factors such as the campus atmosphere, athletics, cost, and even dining hall food are crucial when considering a best-fit college. 

One of the best resources to discover best-fit colleges is the CollegeBoard’s college quiz, which allows you to rate the importance of each factor in your ideal school. It will then generate a list of colleges that match your preferences. This is a great way to get your college list started or add a few more to your list. 

You may have also heard of the common grouping system used to make your college list: safety, target, and reach. Ms. Hayes, a Blake counselor, suggests that students apply to a “total of 5 to 8 schools.” She advises seniors to “minimize reaches to 1 to 2” and to apply to at least “1 safety.” It’s best to begin your college search towards the end of your junior year. 

Admission Plans & Deadlines

The college application process is filled with many important deadlines that are different for each admission plan and each college. A key step into managing your deadlines is to figure out which admission plan – regular decision, early action, or early decision – applies to you for each college. 

Regular decision is a non-binding application that normally has a deadline in January, but can vary among colleges. Applying regular decision would be a great option for you if you need more time finalizing your application or are not sure on which college you want to attend. 

The early action (EA) plan is non-binding as well, but the deadline tends to be much earlier in the year, commonly on November 1st. EA applicants get their college decisions earlier than if they were to apply regular decision to the college. 

Early decision, however, is binding, meaning if you get accepted into the college, you must attend it. However, an exception to this rule is that if you can’t afford the college and don’t get enough financial aid, you can often back out without being penalized. Early decision deadlines tend to be on November 1st, and the decisions are given to applicants around December. The main benefit of applying early is the acceptance rate tends to be higher. I would advise you to only apply early decision if you are sure that the college is your first choice. 

Letters of Recommendation

Now that you have your college list and are aware of important deadlines, it’s time to ask your teachers for recommendation letters. Letters of recommendations are used by colleges to see how you’ve been a leader in the classroom and how you’ve grown throughout the school year. In order to make the most of these recommendation letters, choosing the right teachers is key. The most important things to consider are when you had the teacher, how well they know you, how relevant it is to your major, and how you performed in the class. 

You may have heard your counselor tell you to ask teachers you’ve had your junior and senior years. Now, this makes sense for many seniors because the student is fresh in their recommenders’ minds, allowing them to write a more detailed letter. However, there are some cases where sophomore teachers may know students better and know more about the student’s growth and leadership in the classroom. That being said, the most important factor in a recommender is one that remembers you and has seen your greatest qualities in the classroom. 

Many colleges and universities also prefer recommendations from course subjects, especially if the subject is related to your preferred major. For example, students that are interested in engineering should ask their AP Calculus and AP Physics teachers for their recommendation, rather than their history teacher. Colleges like to see your success and growth in the subject that you will be most involved in at their college. The teachers that you pick should be able to tell the admissions officers about your strengths in their class. 

Once you choose which teachers you want to ask, it is best to ask them in-person. Politely ask if they can write a STRONG recommendation for you. If they have any hesitation, ASK SOMEONE ELSE. You want to make sure that the teacher writing yours will write great, specific things about you.

If they say yes with confidence, provide them with a brag sheet (which can be found on Naviance) and ask them if they need any other information from you. 

After they’ve written your recommendation, be sure to thank them with a handwritten card or gift! 

Writing Essays 

Writing essays for college can sound very overwhelming and nerve-wracking. What’s the best thing to write about? Where can I find help? How can I organize all of these essays? These are all very important questions that many seniors around this time wonder about. 

Choosing a topic in itself can be one of the most challenging portions of the personal essay. Don’t write about a topic that doesn’t come naturally to you. If you start writing a draft and struggle with it from the get-go, you should probably consider choosing another topic. Choose a topic that truly shows who you are as a person and how you’ve grown in recent years. 

Once you’ve finished writing your personal essay, ask family members and friends to read and edit your essay. Another great way to get your essay edited is by bringing it to the Blake Writing Center on Tuesday or Thursday so a tutor can help you. However, be sure to not change the language of your essay too much, to the point where it isn’t authentic and doesn’t sound like you. It is YOUR essay; pick and choose which edits you would like to keep. 

One of the best ways to organize your personal essays is to create a folder in your Google Drive. Writing many drafts is a part of the writing process, so it’s crucial to keep each and every one in the same location. You never know when you might need to use portions of your previous drafts to come up with an even better idea. Additionally, supplemental essays for every school should be outlined in one document. Having a complete layout of each supplemental essay in one place can make it easier to reuse portions of your written responses. Many of the college supplemental essay prompts are very similar, so reusing content from each of your essay responses makes this part of the application process much easier. 

Transcripts 

Transcipts are one of the most important components of your application. Admissions officers want to see that you will be able to handle their difficult courses offered at their college. In order to best prepare for college and to increase your chances of getting accepted, it is important to take rigorous courses, such as AP and honors courses, in high school. Not only will this increase your weighted GPA, but it will also give you the opportunity to get college credit. Though your transcript will not completely determine whether you get accepted into college, it is a very crucial part of your application that can greatly increase chances of admission.

I wish all of Blake’s seniors luck on their applications! Be sure to see Mr. Marshall with additional questions.