The secrets to writing a great college application involve your being organized, being well-prepared, and having assistance and guidance from a qualified success coach who can help you navigate the entire process.
You can create a college application that effectively promotes you to the college admissions committee!
The college application process is more stressful than ever, but I can show you how to create an application that effectively promotes you to the admissions committee.
The Common Application is one of the best things that have ever happened to streamline the application process.
Students can apply to over 300 different colleges and universities by using the same application form. Students can complete the common application online, and they can with the click of a mouse submit the application to the schools they designate. That saves a tremendous amount of time.
Some colleges will request a supplementary essay or other material from the student. Overall, this is a tremendous improvement over they way things used to be.
You can (and should) complete your applications before the summer of your senior year.
Students and their families have asked me if it makes any difference if they use the common application or a specific college application. Honestly, it doesn't make any difference.
The word was out for a while that the colleges favor their own applications, and students who applied using the common application put themselves at a distinct disadvantage. The member institutions that accept the common application have a contractual obligation not to discriminate against students who use the common application. All of my children have used the common application, and they had no problems whatsoever.
I encourage students to apply well in advance of the stated deadlines. If you follow my advice, your resume, your table of activities, and your college essays or personal statements will be completed well before the beginning of your senior year.
Many applications have the same components. Only the college essay or personal statement and any short-answer questions may be different. The basic components of a college application, which can be completed in advance are:
Personal data: Student's name, address, telephone number, date of birth, email address and other contact information, country of citizenship, social security number, racial or ethnic group (optional - but I encourage any student who may be able to benefit from any minority preference status to complete the personal data, including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc.)
Educational Data: Name, address, etc. of all of the high schools you attended. You will need to know your school's CEEB / ACT Code, your counselor's name and contact information, etc.
Standardized Test Information: List the name of test (ACT, SAT I, SAT II Subject Tests, etc.), date taken or to be taken, your score on each test and subtest (if requested), etc.
Family Information: Parents' names, parents' occupations, parents' level of education and colleges attended (if any), names of siblings and listings of the colleges they attended, etc.
Academic honors
Extracurricular, Personal, and Volunteer Activities (including summer): List the activity, dates of participation, approximate number of hours per week or month, number of weeks per year you participated, positions held, honors won, if you plan to participate in college, etc. You can see how valuable it is to keep an updated resume and table of activities.
Work Experience: List the specific nature of the work, your employer's contact information, dates of employment, approximate number of hours per week, etc. on your college application.
I'm sure you can readily see that by completing these portions of your application before you senior year, and simply updating them as necessary, you can have most of your college application completed before you start your senior year classes. That will greatly reduce the stress associated with applying to college.
Even if you decide to apply early decision, you should still be ahead of the game and able to submit outstanding applications in a relatively short period of time - especially if you have followed my advice and completed your college essay or personal statement during the summer after junior year.
Applying to college surely tests your time management and organizational skills. It's very important to know what forms each college requires, the various deadlines, whether they have received all of your recommendations, etc.
Angela Arnold is an educator, author, consultant, and coach with close to 40 years experience in areas of academic achievement ranging from preK-12 on up to graduate and professional school.
She is a parent of five college graduates, a study abroad advocate and volunteer, a sought-after speaker, and a mentor to students of all ages and from varied educational backgrounds. Specializing in helping students get into their dream colleges, Angela Arnold is a wealth of information about the entire college application process.
Ready to learn more about how to get admitted to your dream college? Be sure to look for Mrs. Arnold's many college admissions videos by visiting her website and blog. Subscribe to her free, powerful 7-Day E-Course on what you need to do to get accepted to your top-choice college by completing the form on her home page at http://www.collegeadmissions411.com/
Contact Mrs. Arnold at 602.539.8857. You may also sign up for a free consultation about the college admissions process by completing the form at http://www.collegeadmissions411.com
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