August 1st is a special day for rising seniors. The Common App is released for their year, and they can begin to address the college-specific portion of the Common App for the colleges on their list.
First, list the available deadlines for each college on your list. Be aware of any deadlines to be considered for your major, merit aid, or special programs (e.g., Honors program. If you are applying for need-based aid, record the deadlines for filing the financial aid forms.
Then, list the college-specific essays you need to write, with their minimum and maximum word lengths.
Finally, decide which deadlines you wish to aim for each college.
Decide what your favorite college is and see if it has Early Decision. Decide with your parents whether Early Decision makes sense considering your family’s financial situation. Remember that an Early Decision is binding. If accepted to the Early Decision college, you must rescind your other applications and attend it. You will not have the opportunity to see what other colleges accepted you and what their net price would have been.
Try to complete the rest of your applications by the early action deadlines, when available. Since this may not be feasible because of time constraints, consider priority deadlines, how many essays are needed, and which colleges you like best.
It’s December, and students who applied early will be hearing back soon from colleges to which they applied. Here’s a flowchart that outlines the student’s next steps based on whether they were accepted, deferred or denied.
The ED Instructions in the flowchart can be found here.
If you have been accepted, you are probably very happy. Celebrate!
If you have been denied admission you may feel sad or disappointed. Being rejected is hard, but it doesn’t reflect on your personal worth. So, don’t take it personally!
Understand the high school class requirements of the colleges to which you plan to apply. Many colleges and universities require or recommend a certain number of years of English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Foreign Language. Students who don’t fulfill the requirements are often ineligible to be accepted.
Last year, a student I worked with decided not to take the third year of a foreign language in high school. I had him check with the colleges he wanted to apply to that listed a requirement for a minimum of three years of foreign language. Some of these colleges indicated that they would not consider him without the third year of foreign language. This decision changed the list of colleges to which he would apply. I wanted him to understand the implication of his senior year course selection and not waste time applying to colleges that indicated they would not consider him without the third year of language.
Challenge yourself academically, while balancing your life. Take classes that challenge you (e.g., Honors, AP, or IB) while spending enough time to be healthy (e.g., to eat, sleep, exercise) and pursue your extracurricular interests.
Most colleges look at students holistically, so a tiny change in GPA is insignificant. One student recently told me she was planning to take a required art class, Pass/Fail. She didn’t want the class grade to lower her weighted GPA since the art class wasn’t an Honors or AP class. I told her not to take the class Pass/Fail because a college she was applying to required a year of art with a grade of at least a C. A decision to take the art class Pass/Fail might have had the unintended consequence of making her ineligible to be accepted to that college.
Students often do not realize that many colleges and universities will re-compute their GPA. The re-computed GPA may exclude certain classes and will often weigh the grades differently than their high school.
Read and carefully follow instructions when self-reporting grades in college applications. When self-reporting grades, carefully categorize courses. Some colleges only count English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Foreign Language courses when they re-compute GPA.
Recently, a student listed their Public Speaking class in an “Other” category instead of in English. Having more than four years in English would have been a plus for her, but her miscategorization would have jeopardized that.
Another student took a high school Geometry class in 8th grade and made the mistake of leaving that class off her self-reported grades. That error might have disqualified her from consideration at a college she was applying to where high school Geometry was required.
When something about self-reporting grades is unclear, reread the instructions. Check with your counselor or the college if that doesn’t clarify the situation. Don’t guess.
If you are wondering what your chances are at getting accepted to a particular college or university here are four things to consider:
What percent of students do they accept?
What criteria are important to that college?
How well do you meet the criteria?
Will the major you have selected have an impact on whether you will be accepted?
What percent of students do they accept?
The higher the percent of students the college accepts, the better your chance for admission. If the percent acceptance is very small, your chance of admission is very small.
Percent acceptance ranges between 2 or 3 % and 100%. Schools that accept 100% include many 2-year community colleges and some 4-year colleges.
Some schools accept a much different percent of applicants depending on whether the student applies as an early decision, early action or regular decision applicant. Percent acceptance may also vary by gender or ethnicity. In-state and out-of-state acceptance rates vary significantly and many public colleges and universities.
What criteria is important?
Important criteria may be reflected in the school’s mission statement. It also may be reflected in published data (see collegedata.com) which indicates how important (i.e., very important, important, considered, or not considered) each of the following is to the particular college:
Rigor of secondary school record – Rigor considers the number of years of a particular subject that you have taken. Colleges often specify the number of years required or recommended for a particular subject like English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Language. Rigor also looks at the level of the course you took (e.g., college prep, honors, AP, IB) as compared to what your high school offered.
Academic GPA
Standardized Tests
Class rank (if available)
Recommendations
Application essay
Application interview
Level of applicant’s interest
Extracurricular activities
Volunteer work
Particular talent/ability
Character/personal qualities
First generation to attend college
State residency
Geographic residence
Relation with alumnus
Religious affiliation/commitment
Ethnicity
Work Experience.
How well do you meet the criteria?
For every criteria that is very important, important or considered by a particular college, consider how you will measure up.
For example, consider how your grades and course rigor and how your SAT/ACT test scores compare to the students the college accepts. If your high school has Naviance or SCOIR, you can use scattergrams to get an idea about how your grades and test scores stack up to others from your high school that applied to a particular college or university.
Will the major you have selected have an impact on whether you will be accepted?
The acceptance rate at some universities may also be dependent to the college which you are applying. For example, the College of Engineering may be more competitive than the College of Arts and Science.
Some majors which are in high demand and/or which there are few professors may be “impacted” majors. They may be more difficult to gain acceptance into than other majors. You may get accepted to the college or university, but not for your first choice major. At some schools, no one is accepted directly for a particular major. Students can only declare that major after meeting certain criteria as a college student (e.g., completing certain college courses with a particular grade).
Conclusion
Be realistic about your chances of admission. Be sure to include colleges with a high and medium probability of acceptance, not just colleges with low probability of acceptance.
If you need or want assistance with the college selection and application process, work with an experienced independent educational consultant like me. I help students select colleges which meet their academic, social and financial needs and I work with them throughout the application process to make sure they put their best foot forward in their applications.
If you are a high school senior and not feeling great about your future because of the following all is not lost:
You didn’t apply to college, but you recently decided want to go
You applied to college, but you didn’t get accepted into any of the schools you applied to
You applied to college, but none of the schools you got accepted to are affordable for your family or
You applied to college, but you don’t like any of the schools you were accepted to.
Here are three approaches you might take:
Attend a local community college or a college with open admissions in the Fall
Take a gap year, and apply to colleges in the Fall
Check the list of colleges with available space in the Fall on the NACAC website (https://www.nacacnet.org/) typically posted on May 2 or 3. Apply to the colleges that you would like to attend and that you believe will be affordable for your family.
For high school seniors, college application deadlines are just around the corner. Here are five things to do now, to be ready for fall application deadlines.
1. Finalize the college list and know the due dates. Generally, I recommend that students apply to no more than nine colleges, including stretch, match and safe schools. College application deadlines vary, and some schools have application due dates as early as October. For each school on your final college list, decide whether to apply early decision, early action or regular decision. Record the application and financial aid due dates.
2. Schedule Fall tests. If you haven’t taken the SAT or ACT, or want to take them again, check that the scores will be available by the college due dates, and then register. October is often the last test date that will be scored in time.
3. Schedule college visits. Many colleges use “enthusiasm to attend” as one of their admissions criteria. Visiting is an excellent way to demonstrate your enthusiasm and to learn more about the college. If possible, schedule an interview when you visit. You may be able visit some colleges that are in session, before high school resumes.
4. Get teacher recommendations. If you did not ask teachers for recommendations in the Spring, do it as soon as school starts. Notify your guidance counselor if you will be applying to schools early admission, since they also need to prepare a recommendation and get other materials ready for your applications.
5. Finish applications, including essays early. Your applications are critical and should be treated as such. Your essays will take time to write and revise. Plan enough time to revise each essay three or four times. Make sure to proofread your applications, including essays carefully.