The Three most important tips to help your senior apply to college:
What’s the Deadline?
Colleges have different admission deadlines. Generally, you will find the admission application dates are from November 1 of the student’s Senior Year to January 15 of the following year. Some schools have rolling admissions, meaning students can apply any time. Even schools with rolling admissions have preferred or suggested application dates.
Charts can be fun!
1. I suggest you create a chart. Google Sheets has a chart creation that is very simple. I had nine (9) headings across the top of the page. Also, I obtain admission information from https://www.collegesimply.com/colleges/search
- College Name
- GPA
- SAT/ACT
- Acceptance Rate
- Cost
- Early Application Deadline
- Regular Application Deadline
- Financial Aid Deadline
- Application Submitted
Get Your Unofficial Transcripts in the Summer
2. The summer before Senior Year, request an unofficial copy of the student’s transcript. Many colleges request the student’s GPA, class size, class rank and later request a copy of the official transcript.
Get Your FAFSA Done
3. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Students must focus on three (3) deadlines for the FAFSA: College, State and Federal. Each college and each state have different deadlines. The Federal application generally opens October 1 and ends June 30 of the following year. Students should apply on or a close as possible to October 1st. https://studentaid.gov › h › apply-for-aid › fafsa
College advisors advise students to have the following:
A Safe School– A school the student is practically assured of being accepted to based on admission criteria.
A Reach School– A school where those accepted have higher qualifications than the student who is applying.
Early Action – Each student should apply to at least one school for early action. That means that a student applies early and receives a decision earlier than the normal response date.
Ideally students should begin their personal essay ( an essay that is required by most/many colleges) the summer before their Senior Year. That way only minor corrections are needed when it is due. Having prepared the Google Sheets chart which includes application deadlines, students then methodically complete applications prior to each deadline.
**Note the above dates are simply guidelines but always go to the specific college site for accurate information regarding deadlines.