How to Simplify the College Admissions Process

The college admissions process is undoubtedly long, complicated, and often confusing, but there are certainly ways to simplify it. Here are some tips to help you preserve your sanity:

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Take your SAT IIs early: Take as many SAT IIs in your junior or even sophomore year as possible in May or June as soon as you have finished a course. This way, the information will still be fresh in your mind and you won’t have to study as much for the tests. It will also help the stress you will undoubtedly experience during the fall of your senior year.
2. Schedule interviews during your junior year or over the summer: Don’t wait until your senior year to interview with alumni and college seniors. The fall of your senior year will be busy enough re-taking the SAT (if necessary), filling out college applications, writing college essays, and juggling your course load and your extracurricular activities.
3. Research essay topics over the summer: Give yourself as much time as possible to plan your responses to college essay prompts. No matter how good of a writer you are, it’s never a wise idea to wait until the last minute to write your essay.
4. Ask your teachers for recommendations at the start of the school year: It’s not only inconsiderate to give your teachers a tight deadline, it’s a form of self-sabotage. If you want your teachers to write thoughtful letters, you need to provide them with adequate time to do the task. Also be sure to give your teachers a s tamped addressed envelope and your activities list to make your teachers’ job easier.
5. Consider Early Decision and Early Action: Early Decision is a binding agreement with a school that if you apply early (usually in November) and are accepted early (usually by Christmas), then you will attend that school; Early Action is non-binding and is just a method for you to quickly find out whether or not a school has accepted you by Christmas. Remember that whether you go for Early Decision or Early Action, you can only apply to ONE school.
6. Use the Common Application: Hopefully, all or most of the colleges to which you plan to apply will accept the Common Application, which you can access at www.commonapp.org. Using the Common Application will spare you from filling out the same information over and over, and often means that you all have to do have each school is fill out a one-page supplement.
7. Order your SAT scores ahead of time: Send out your SAT scores as soon as you’ve decided which colleges to which you’re applying, rather than waiting right before the deadline. The College Board charges a “rush” charge if you want to send your scores speedily; if you wait until just before the deadline and don’t pay the rush charge, your scores probably won’t arrive in time for the college deadline.
8. Try to re-use the same essay whenever possible: If you don’t have to write another essay, don’t! You may be fortunate enough to apply to all free-write colleges or colleges that have the same or similar prompt, so you can submit the same essay (or the same essay with just a tad of tweaking) to all the schools you choose.
9. Apply to no more than ten colleges: There is no reason why you should apply to more than ten schools, and limiting yourself to five or six is probably better. Narrow your choices down by choosing schools that offer your intended major, are located at a distance from home that you find comfortable, offer good financial aid packages, and have the kind of social life you desire. If you have any qualms about a school, don’t apply!

Tips & Warnings

• You’re bound to busy during the fall of your senior year, so get your work done early and make clever shortcuts if you can!