How To Effectively Ace Your College Application Without Breaking A Sweat

Applying to college is an exciting, but stressful time for you and your family. You are getting ready to invest in your future and future-self and you are getting ready to open a door to endless opportunities. These tips, tricks, and resources are here to help ease your stress through your college applications.

Know Your Deadlines

This is easily the most important point on the list, especially if you are applying to multiple colleges. Very few colleges will even bother looking at your application if it comes in after their deadline. Here are some decision deadlines you need to be familiar with:

Early decision. These are applications wherein you are telling the school you are 100% committed to going there if they accept you.

Early action. Similar to early decision, however, you are not required to attend the school if they accept you.

Regular decision. After typical application deadlines close, colleges will sort through applications and send their decisions out in the springtime. Like early action, you are not required to attend any of the schools that accept you.

Rolling admission. These admissions are evaluated as they come in rather than all at once at the end of the deadline. You are also not obligated to attend any of the schools as they accept you.

Keep in mind, each college you’re considering will probably receive thousands of applications. If you are focused on a particular school and want to get ahead of the rush of applications they will inevitably get, apply early.

Leverage Your Letters Of Recommendation

Whether you’re applying to a college, for a competitive scholarship, financial aid, or a particular program of study, a good LOR (letter of recommendation) can help you a lot. The person who writes this DOES NOT need to be an educator.

The biggest bit of advice you can get regarding your LOR is to find someone who has witnessed your growth. Choose the person who has seen you grow and overcome obstacles, someone who has seen you persevere through hard times and achieve good things. This person can be a teacher, a coach, a principal, a counselor, or a community member. Try to choose someone with who you’ve built a relationship and you’ve known for a while.

College Application Essay

Whether you’re applying to college directly through the school’s website, or through an App, your college application essay is still a key aspect of your overall application. For a little extra guidance, you can take a look at some UC essay examples to plan accordingly. Here are a few other ways to elevate your essay:

Pick The Perfect Topic

Write about something you’re passionate about, rather than something you think the people reading your essay want to read. Your essay should let the college see a unique side of you that is different from your high school transcripts and list of activities.

Sometimes, college essay prompts may be published beforehand. A few examples for the 2021-22 application period are:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Whether one of the prompts catches your eye, or you decide to write about something else, picking a topic that you want to write about will help let your creativity show. An admissions professional will be able to feel your passion and interest through your essay.

Use the Your Resources

You have approximately 400 characters to use. If you need help picking the perfect topic, or are struggling to figure out where to start, there are online resources available to you.

Honesty

Not only should your essay be different from the rest of your application, but it should also be honest. A college might use the same or very similar essay prompts multiple years in a row. This DOES NOT mean you can use a previous applicant’s essay. Colleges will likely check your claims and references. Your listed ideas and achievements must be accurate.

DO NOT have someone else write your essay. Your parents or guardians cannot do this for you. You are the one getting ready for college, not them.

Proofread

Your essay needs to be free from any grammatical errors and misspellings. You can use apps like Grammarly to help you with this.

Evaluate Your Social Media Accounts

Check yourself before you wreck yourself! Social media accounts – You want to make sure that your social media accounts portray the same person you are describing on your application. Colleges will check your accounts to see who you are. Go through and do a little bit of cleaning up.

What if your accounts are private? It doesn’t matter. Screenshots are forever.

Confirm The College have Your Documents

This is last on the list, but it does not mean that it is the least important. Contact the school’s admissions office to see if they have received your materials a few days after you submit your application. Make sure they have your high school transcript, your SAT/ACT test scores, and LOR(s).

Save everything. Your applications, your transcripts, your test scores, any and all other materials that are part of your application process. Save them all. If you find out that a school is missing any parts of your application, you will easily be able to send it to them.

The last bit of advice is to remember that you can ask for help. If you run into any problems throughout the process, don’t be too shy to ask for help.

Good luck!