Applying to college can be an extremely stressful process, but planning ahead of time and doing your research makes things much easier. Depending on how high you set your sights, getting into college can be extremely easy, extremely difficult, or somewhere in between. Here's how to do it.
Edit Steps
- Understand that there is a college for every student who wants to go. The USA has 4000 degree-granting institutions. Almost all of them accept the majority of applicants, only a small number of elite schools accept less than half the people who apply. Hundreds of colleges accept almost everyone who applies. So, you are definitely getting into college if you want to go.
- On the other hand, top schools like Harvard, Stanford, Duke, University of Chicago, etc. receive thousands of applications from top students for their Freshman classes. It is important to have a realistic view of what your credentials are and what those schools require. Try to match your own grades and special abilities with the standards for the school you want to attend.
- During your junior year, move to finish any requirements needed to apply to certain colleges. Some colleges will want you to complete calculus and statistics before you apply; others will stress a broad range of humanities classes. Be sure that you have an idea of the colleges you might want to apply to, and start meeting their class requirements, if necessary.
- Successfully complete high school or an academic equivalent (such as a GED). People who move on to higher education have many different educational backgrounds. Among community college students in the United States, 43% are age 21 or younger, 42% are ages 22-39 and 16% are 40 or older. Your age should not be a negative factor in applying to college.
- Take the SAT or ACT test because about 85% of colleges require one or the other for first-year students. Nearly all schools will take either one, but a few schools will only accept one or the other, so check the school website to see if they are picky or not.
- Use college and scholarship search sites to your advantage. Look at colleges that have features that interest you, such as ideal major, class size, location, and the like. Check out their websites, since many of them have application information. It is also worth checking out books about scholarships at your public and school libraries.
- Many companies nowadays will compile lists of colleges that you can browse through or buy. They break down how hard it is to get into, what kind of SAT/ACT score you need, what campus life and academics are like, and what kind of job prospects alumni have upon graduation.
- Contact schools for information. If you contact the schools that you are interested in by signing in on their admissions website, they will probably send you a pile of information about the school. Most schools now have information online. You should do this as early as possible if you are still in high school, because some colleges have unusual apply-by dates or a list of required high school classes. They will send out reminders of important due-dates and information.
- Narrow down your list of schools. By the time you are a Junior in high school, you should be narrowing down the list of schools you want to apply to. It would be a good idea to visit some schools during your Junior year. Decide what college(s) you want to apply to based on the information they sent you, the information you received from other people, and your own reconnaissance.
- By October of your Senior year you should know who you are applying to and what they want in terms of references, test scores, etc. Do not leave this decision until several days before the due date for forms and paperwork. A lot of information may need to be obtained, including references for some colleges.
- It is also important to be certain about your choice and not just apply "for the heck of it" or because everyone else is going to that college. It needs to suit you and what you want.
- Visit some colleges. Each school is different — some are huge with 30,000 or more students, and some have only a few hundred students. Do you want a city campus or a country campus? North or South? A particular religious group? Go there and look. If you have a friend, or another kid from your high school who goes there, get them to show you around.
- Try to talk to students in various grade levels and ask them for their perspective of the school. Listen to what they have to say, but form your own opinion on what you like and dislike.
- Sit in on a class. Try to imagine what it would be like to be a student there. Can you imagine yourself being happy and living fruitfully there?
- Oftentimes, a college will give a visiting student a fee waiver. These can save you $50 or more, plus visiting beforehand can help you decide whether or not you even want to bother applying.
- Apply if the college fits you and your interests. This sounds simple, but it is an important consideration. Your choice will effect you for many years down the road. If you feel like a square peg pushing yourself into a round hole, you must evaluate the importance of doing this against the possibility of going to somewhere else that may not be so prestigious or handy but offers you exactly what you want.
- Middle tier and top tier schools usually require you to write essays. They expect these essays to be impeccable, thoughtful and creative. Be sure you are unique in expressing yourself, but avoid a level of eccentricity that would be detrimental. There is a lot of advice online about how to write these, so look around and see what other students have done.
- Figure out who can write your letters of recommendation. Give them plenty of time to write the letters and keep track of whether they have actually sent them out. You should be thinking well in advance about which teachers you want to write recommendations. And, it isn't a bad idea to do a little extra schmoozing with those teachers to be sure they know you and have something nice to say about you.
- Also consider issues related to residency, expenses, quality of final qualifications, scholarship/bursary availability and your own eligibility etc.
- Decide whether you want to apply with early admission. Early admission is a way of telling a school that you really want to go there. Pretty much, if they accept you, you're bound to go. (For this reason, you can only apply to one school with early admission).
- Early admission has its advantages and disadvantages. If you do apply early admission, you'll have a slightly higher chance of getting in. School use early admission to gauge who really wants to go to their school; many students who they accept eventually end up going somewhere else, a situation that is not ideal.
- The disadvantage of early admission is that if you get accepted, you have no flexibility. You have to go to that school, even if you got a scholarship to a different school, or your best friend was attending a different school. Be sure you're comfortable with the school if you decide to apply early admission.
- Complete most applications by January. Most of the more respected schools require applications to be completed by January of your Senior year. By around April 1st they will tell you whether you are admitted, then you will have to decide by May 1st if you will go there.
- For many middle level schools or less selective schools, you can apply at any time and they will tell you in a few weeks whether you are accepted.
- There are also schools (but not famous ones) which have empty seats in their Freshman class right up to the start of school in September. So, if you don't get accepted in April, then you can still work on applications and find a school that will take you right up to the start of the Fall term.
- Thank the individual(s) who wrote you letters of recommendation. You may have been asked to submit letters of recommendation along with your application. Never forget to thank the people who were willing to write those for you! Without their contribution, your application might not have been accepted.
- Once you have been accepted, apply for financial aid (optional). Go directly through the school itself, or apply for FAFSA, a governmental body. Many top tier schools will waive the price of admission if your family's income falls below a certain mark. Talk with your high school guidance counselor if you believe this to be the case.
Edit Tips
- Think seriously about how much debt you are willing to incur. Most loans are charging 6.8% interest as of July 2012. DirectPLUS loans call for a fee of 4% up front. Think carefully about your chosen career path and make your best possible determination if the average salary of that profession will allow you to pay back your loans as quickly as possible. A 6.8% loan will cost you double what you borrow to pay back in a little over 10 years. If you can't find a reasonable payment plan to repay the loans as quickly as possible, choose a school that will allow you to graduate with a little debt as possible. After all, it's not the school that gets hired after graduation; it is you.
- To high school students with decent grades (3.5+ GPA) and a lot of extracurricular activities: While it is admirable to apply to the top universities like the Ivies, remember that middle tier schools will more than likely give you generous aid packages. It is unusual these days for any student to get a "full ride" scholarship. Very few 100% scholarships are available. There are many scholarships that give good students 40%-60% of the costs of attending. You need to talk this over with your parents and see how much they can afford to give you. Is it really going to be worth going to that special college if you wind up with $50,000 of loans to pay back, especially when you might have gone to your state university and studied the same thing with no loans at all?
- Learn how financial aid works if you need money for college. Some colleges will meet up to 100% of demonstrated need. Most colleges require the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine financial need.
- Start working on your applications early! Lots of less-selective schools or state universities having a 'rolling admission' system, and the sooner you apply the better your chances of getting in and the sooner you will hear back. Even for schools that do not have rolling admission, it gives you more time to fine tune your essays and get recommendation letters.
- The college may be the one of your dreams or it may be the one your friends/parents/grandparents think is great but when you look into it more, it just may not be the one for you. Be true to yourself and put aside the pressuring of other people or the overwhelming nature of a long-held dream. Make the decision about the college based on your wants, abilities and needs, not on the accolades and pressures of others or your misplaced dreams.
- If you feel under pressure to go to a college because it keeps you near somebody, think very carefully about your priorities in life and whether this will be a good decision in terms of 5 to 10 years down the track. It may feel right immediately but it won't be right if it curtails your chances in the future. Of course, you can always reach suitable compromises if you think these things through well in advance.
Edit Warnings
- Don't be late on turning in the admission forms and paperwork; there are no excuses for lateness and you'll just have to wait another year.
- Don't let indecisiveness paralyze you. If you're always afraid of taking risks, you'll never get anywhere in life.
- Think about the future, and how it will effect you financially. The less you have to pay, the more flexible your lifestyle can be, and the happier you will end up as a result.
Edit Things You'll Need
- The internet
- An application form
- A counselor would be helpful also
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Edit Sources and Citations
- http://www.commonapp.org/ Save yourself time and make good use of the common application. You'll be glad you didn't spend so much time on individual applications.
- Applying to College
via Jonathan's starred items in Google Reader
