High school seniors beware: College application season is here!
Students who hope to gain admission at some of the nation’s top schools face
an uphill battle – for the past several years, college admissions has grown increasingly competitive. Seeking any edge, many high school students have begun taking advantage of early action or early decision programs available at many colleges and universities. Although figures differ greatly from one school to the next, applying early can give students a great advantage. For example:
|
School |
Early Admission Acceptance |
Regular Admission Acceptance |
|
Duke University |
25% |
11% |
|
Johns Hopkins University |
38% |
16% |
|
Northwestern University |
33% |
14.7% |
|
University of Pennsylvania |
25% |
9.8% |
Students who plan on applying early need to start NOW because many of the early application deadlines are just a few short weeks away. Even those students who plan on applying regular decision would do well to begin the application process sooner rather than later.
To help those seniors who are facing the uphill battle of college admissions, we’ve created the September Senior Checklist:
- Keep your grades up: First semester grades remain very important, especially for those students applying through regular admission. Even after you’ve been admitted to your college, grades continue to be important. College admission is always conditional upon the student completing high school with the same academic profile on which the offer was based. It is far from unheard of for colleges to rescind offers of admission if your grades drop too much; in fact, last year, the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) reported that 35% of colleges rescinded offers of admission.
- Finalize your college list: At this point, you should be finalizing your list of colleges to apply to. Your list should include your dream school, a few reach schools, a handful of safety schools, and a few middle of the road schools. In 2009, 23% of high school seniors applied to seven or more colleges; applying to long list of colleges certainly isn’t out of the ordinary and may well save you a great deal of trouble down the road.
- Gather application materials: First, get all of your applications in one place. Today many colleges utilize online applications (or, for that matter the Common App, which can be used to apply to any of 488 colleges and universities), so this task may be quite easy. BUT, after you’ve got the applications themselves, you’ll need to start gathering all the other materials, including: transcripts, test scores, essay(s), letters of recommendation, and any supplementary documents.
- Keep track of ALL deadlines: There’s an app for that. Nothing will kill a college application faster than missing the deadline. Be sure you know when all test registration or college application deadlines are – then make sure you meet them!
- Polish your essay: If you haven’t yet begun your application essays, you’re already behind. If you are applying regular decision, you should at least be nearing completion of your rough draft. If you are applying early decision, you should be nearing a final product. An excellent college application essay should take weeks – if not months – to perfect. Last minute scribblings won’t cut it.
- Register for any needed tests: October and November will likely be the last months in which you can take the ACT or the SAT. If you still need to take these tests, register now!
- Start your scholarship hunt: Unless you are one of the lucky few who have no worries about affording tuition, you’ll probably want to get a few scholarships. Begin your scholarship hunt now because application deadlines are often in the fall. To start, visit your school’s guidance counselor. Your counselor will likely have information about local and national scholarships available to you. Next, boot up the computer and visit www.fastweb.com, www.scholarships.com, or other search engines recommended by your counselor. For more on financial aid and scholarship hunts, check out C2’s financial aid primer.
- Apply for your FAFSA PIN: Any student planning on applying for financial aid will likely need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in the spring. Now is a good time to go ahead and apply for your PIN to make completing the FAFSA much faster. Students can apply online at pin.ed.gov.
- Athletes should register with the NCAA: Student athletes who plan on competing in college sports should register with the NCAA at www.eligibilitycenter.org.
Good luck to the class of 2013 as you begin your path to college!
