“It’s too late.” That’s what many students believe when rolling into their senior year of high school. As due dates for various applications are right around the corner, the pressure to stand out intensifies. Many students feel a sense of urgency to bolster their resumes by rushing to join clubs and looking for community service opportunities. However, this can do more harm than good. What students should really focus on is finding the right fit, managing costs, and presenting your best self through your application.
When researching which college to attend, you want to consider four main criteria, including location/campus, major, reputation, and size. Many students can be drawn toward one specific attribute in a college and forget to take a holistic view of the college’s entirety. This can lead to being so set on that college that even the biggest red flag can’t differentiate you. A popular guide that allows you to choose which college to attend is to list the factors that are most important to you and to rate each factor on a scale of 0-10 on importance. Do the same but for each college with the same factors on a scale of 0-10 and multiply the number that you decided from each of the factors on the specific college to the scale of most importance. Then divide by the total number of points that were possible. This scale will allow you to take a holistic view of the entirety of the college based on how you view what you want in your dream college.
College is expensive, however there are many things that students can do to make college more affordable. The number one thing that students need to do is to apply for Scholarships and Grants. There are different types of scholarships, including Merit-Based Scholarships (If you are high achieving in a certain subject or extracurricular), Need-Based Scholarships (which is also called FAFSA which determines how much money you get based on your family’s income), Field Specific Scholarships, Demographic-Based Scholarships, etc… Without applying to any of these scholarships puts yourself at risk for paying more than you need to for college. Before college starts, you want to make a strict budget for yourself so you don’t overspend. Many college students ignore the cost of living and don’t plan for emergencies. Doing all these things may set you up for success so you don’t have to pay as much in student loans and focus on your future, rather than your education.
There is an art to creating a successful college application. My biggest tip is to start early. This will allow you to craft your best college essay, give teachers time to craft recommendation letters, redo any standardized SAT or ACTs, craft your extracurriculars section, and fit each application to the specific school. Every school in America has a common data set which lists how much a school considers an applicant’s interest (among various other categories). If a school considers an applicant’s interest, then to maximize your chances of getting in, you want to go to informational sessions, and tours, and make your “why us” essay fit that specific school. To make your essay unique, you want to talk about certain attributes of the school that not everyone knows about to show your interest. Proofreading is key, as spelling and grammar mistakes, formatting errors, incorrect/outdated data, and inconsistent information can be detrimental to a college accepting you. Every college application tells a story, how do you want to be seen?
It’s easy to get caught up in the anxiety and rush that the college process entails. But if you just step back to consider your options, that can make the biggest difference in your chance of acceptance. Choosing a college that fits your needs, planning for the costs, and crafting a thoughtful application are all very important steps that should not be overlooked. And just to remind you, “It’s never too late”. College is just the beginning–the real goal is finding the right place to thrive and succeed.
