The DO's and DON’Ts of College Applications

September 11, 2020 / Source: The Bizz USA
By Isabelle Sitchon; Edited by Pallavi Vemuri and Haarika Kalahasti

For the class of 2021, it’s finally time. Senior year has rolled around, and for many of us, this means that college application season has arrived. During the fall, seniors will be filling out their FAFSA, having mental breakdowns over writing essays, and sending recommendation letter requests to teachers. To prepare yourself for senior season, here are some DOs and DON’Ts of college applications:
DON’T:

• PROCRASTINATE. A college application contains a lot more criteria than you think. There are multiple parts, including your profile, personal essay, and college writing supplements. When you apply for college, you’re essentially applying for the next few years of your life and your future career. Waiting until the last minute will add major stress onto your plate; When you combine application troubles with 'senioritis' and you’ll be overwhelmed with stress. 

 

• Submit your college apps on the day of the deadline. As much as all of us would like to send our applications right at the 11:59 PM mark, we should not treat it as if it was an English essay. College applications may take days to process, and can pose great risks if sent dangerously close to the deadline. When admissions counselors see that you’ve sent your application a few hours before the due date, they may even question your interest in the college that you’re applying to. Make sure to submit your college applications weeks or days before the deadline to ensure that your application has been received and to push off the stress weighed upon your shoulders.

 

• Exaggerate your extracurriculars. Unfortunately, telling college admissions that you volunteer at a nursing home three days a week and are currently in 10 clubs will not help you get into your dream school. While colleges do like to see students who are engaged within their school, they are mainly looking for passionate students. Instead, write about how you’ve made an impact in your community or how you established your character through your extracurriculars. Students who have a higher chance of being selected by college admissions counselors might choose only four of ten extracurriculars to include in their applications, but will be seen as more direct in their ambitions and aspirations because of how invested they are in their respective activities. 

 

• Start off your personal essay with an available quote. When you’re writing your personal essay, you are writing about yourself. As much as we’d all like to reference Shakespeare in our introductory paragraph, college admission counselors are reading your essay to understand who you are. Quoting words from Hamlet would take up space in your 650-word common app essay; instead, you could start off with a surprising fact about yourself or a personal anecdote and expand into a deeper topic.

 

• Bore the people reading your essay. College admissions counselors will read dozens of student essays everyday, so what exactly will make YOU stand out to them? You should brand yourself to college admissions counselors, not throw cliches everywhere in your paper; they’ve read those thousands of times! Keep in mind that they’re reading thousands of essays a day, so you want to make sure you stand out to them. To make those counselors spend a little more time than allotted to read your essay, differentiate the sentence structure, put a few jokes here and there, and spice up your vocabulary.

 

• Get hung up over bad grades. Universities aren’t going to reprimand you for failing your world geography class in freshman year. Most colleges admit on holistic review, meaning that they consider you as a person--they don’t just consider your grades and test scores. What they’re looking for is a positive change in attitude and how you’ve utilized the opportunities that appeared before you. Instead of worrying about how your GPA isn’t as top notch as you’d like them to be, write about your circumstances that hindered you in your academic pursuits and how they affected you as a whole. Some colleges may include an optional section on this specific topic, so take advantage of this and write to your heart’s content. ​

DO:

• Know your deadlines. Deadlines are extremely important when it comes to college apps. You should know the different types of deadlines in order to accommodate your progress in your applications. There are six types:

1. Early Decision I -- By applying early decision, you send your application early to a college and bind yourself to a certain school. This means that you are 100% committed to that specific college, and would have to withdraw your application from any other college that you’ve applied to. Usually, applicants submit their applications around November, and receive their decisions by mid-December.
2. Early Decision II -- This works very similar to Early Decision, but typically has a later deadline. It’s typically aimed at students who may have gotten deferred or rejected at their Early Decision I school. Again, you are committing to attend if you are accepted into the college, so make sure you truly love the school!
3. Early Action -- By applying early action, you send your application early to a college, but you aren’t required to attend the school. Similar to Early Decision I & II, applicants submit their applications around November, and receive their decisions by January/ February. 
4. Single Choice Early Action/Restrictive Early Action -- This is much similar to early action, except you are only allowed to apply to one school on an early action application. This increases your chances of getting admitted because of your interest in their college. 
5. Regular Decision -- There are typically no restrictions when it comes to regular decisions. Most deadlines are in January or February, and decisions are sent out nearing March/April. 
6. Rolling Admission -- When you apply on rolling admission, there isn’t necessarily a deadline to send your college applications. Instead, schools will accept applicants until they’ve filled in all their slots. Earlier is better for rolling admission!​

• Take your time on your essay. Personal essays  are a major factor into college admissions. In the common app essay, you’re essentially introducing yourself and your future to college admissions counselors in 650 words. It may take weeks--months even--to finish it! Giving yourself only one day to write your personal essay will be the most stressful event in your life. Some people may spend up to two months writing it, while others may finish theirs in three weeks. No matter how much time you need to complete your essay, make sure it reflects your character accurately and is something that you’re proud of! 

• Pay attention to yourself. This is your time to shine! If you’re incorporating an experience into your essay, don’t get too hung up on it. Admissions counselors want to hear about you, not your grandma who used to bake you cookies every weekend you came over. When talking about an important event or person, always write about how you’ve been affected by it/them. How did that devastating hurricane affect you, and what did you do after? How did you take charge after losing your house to an unpaid mortgage loan? Remember: your essay is not a trip down memory lane--it’s an explanation of who you are and what you want to do in life. The admissions officers just want to learn about you, so give them what they want!

• Complete the optional essays. In the college app world, optional really means required in a sense. If a college gives you an optional writing supplement or essay, make sure you do it! College admissions will look at this and will definitely be interested in you, because you’ve gone above and beyond in regards to their application. These optional essays may even give you a chance to express yourself beyond your personal statement! However, don’t overthink the test optional policy that has been put in this year--colleges understand that COVID-19 has upturned our junior year and our opportunity to take the SAT/ACT.

• Have multiple people proofread your essay. It’s necessary to have other people read your essay, because you have the opportunity to hear from other perspectives. Teachers and counselors look at you from an academic perspective, so they can provide comments on your essay that will help you truly portray your role in your school. Meanwhile, your friends or siblings who proofread your essay can point out certain qualities about you that you may have never known about yourself. Having someone look over your essay can immensely help improve your essay.

• Have someone review your entire application. We’re not all perfect! You might forget a few things in your application that you don’t catch with your own eye, like a writing question that you forgot to fill out. To ensure that your college application is absolutely complete, have someone else (ex: high school counselor, parent, older sibling, etc) look over your entire application. 

    College application deadlines are more near than you think. Whether you’re nearly halfway finished with your college applications, or you’ve just created your common app account, make sure you leave an impression on the college admissions counselors and get those essays finished!

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*P.S- Here is a College Application checklist that might be a beneficial tool that will help you keep everything organized for this season! We recommend printing it out and filling it out for each college you are planning to apply to. Good luck seniors!