Tips from Our Family’s College Journey
My last two articles outlined my personal experience with college admissions as my son, our youngest, applied to college last year. (You can read them HERE and HERE.)
We had gone through the process six years ago with our daughter and were determined to have a smoother experience the second time. And we did!
Here are some tips for making the college application process easier:
TL;DR
Early! Do everything you can earlier than you think necessary.
Visit Colleges & Start Sooner
This time last year my son had narrowed his college favorites down to a group of 12 – 15 schools, most of which we had visited. Because we had actively scheduled campus visits during his sophomore and junior years, we were not scrambling to plan college visits which left him with more time for meaningful summer activities (and college essay writing!)
Tip: Start visiting colleges early. You will find plenty of 9th and 10th grade students touring colleges. More information on how to schedule and plan your visits HERE.
Honestly Evaluate Academics
My son is a smart kid with good, but not perfect grades. We knew he would be competitive for most of the colleges on his list, but there may be a few where the numbers of Bs on his transcript would hurt.
We never dealt with issues of automatic admission to our state universities. He wasn’t interested in big schools like UT Austin or Texas A&M. If he had, we would have had a conversation with the college counselor at his private high school to see how students with similar grades and scores had done in recent years. (Most private schools don’t rank students. In fact, most schools outside of Texas don’t rank students. This is only an issue if your Texas student is trying to get automatic admission to our state universities.)
Tip: Get an unofficial copy of your student’s high school transcript. Take note of key numbers such as unweighted GPA, rank, and the number of As, Bs, Cs, etc. Compare your numbers with the admitted students at the schools you are considering. Make honest evaluations of your chances for admission. If you aren’t sure check with your college counselor.
Get Test Prep Done Junior Year
The bulk of our test prep was done prior to the October SAT / PSAT. I taught a private group of friends who met around my dining room table Saturday afternoons. He took the SAT a couple time in the fall and still wanted a few more points, so he took the ACT in the spring. While not a perfect score, his ACT results put him in the 99th percentile of test takers which was competitive, even at the most selective schools.
Tip: Develop a testing plan before junior year starts. Allow time to prepare, test, and re-test. While it is possible to re-test in the summer or early fall of your senior year, I’d rather not have to.
Develop a Draft College List Before Senior Year Starts
It helped that we had committed more time to visiting colleges during junior year and my son was more decisive than his sister. Having a preliminary list, in our case 5 schools where he absolutely wanted to apply and another 8 he was still considering, made it easy to focus on essay writing during the summer.
Tip: Start with your favorites. Make sure to include at least one school where you are almost sure to get in and at least one where you feel certain you can make the finances work. Keep in mind it gets exhausting to apply to more than 10 schools, so start prioritizing. My daughter ultimately applied to 8 schools; my son applied to 5 with a plan to add a few more in mid-December if his early decision and early action applications were denied.
Start the Essay Early
Our daughter was very successful, gaining acceptance at all eight schools on her list, and scholarships from many, but the process was tough. Our great writer was in tears multiple times and despite plans to have all applications done by October 1, her last application was submitted in the final days of December. We did not expect the essay (and the pages of supplemental essays and short answers) would be such a challenge.
This time around we insisted that essays were written before school started, even if that meant making some changes to summer plans.
Tip: Understand that college essays (about 500 – 650 words) are hard to write. They require more time and editing than the essays students write for school. Start the process early and expect challenges.
Apply Early
I feel like a broken record at this point— early, early, early. Do everything early.
There are multiple reasons to apply early:
- Gain a slight advantage when applying to schools with rolling admission
- Get admission decisions sooner
- Eliminate the stress of unsent applications
My son had everything done in October and his senior year immediately felt better. By the end of December, the same time his older sister had been submitting her last application, he had heard back from all of his schools and was considering his final decision.
Tip: If you are able to apply early action or early decision, do so. (I will write a full article on this soon.) Not everyone will have final admissions decisions from all of their schools as early as we did. However, the sooner you send your applications, the sooner you can focus on the rest of senior year. Getting at least one “yes” in the fall will take some of the worry out of the process.
Manage Expectations & Disappointment
We understood my son’s top choice was going to be tough. They admit less than 10% of all applicants. He had great test scores, extracurriculars, and essays, but he had a handful of Bs on his transcript, usually in AP classes.
Ultimately, he was rejected from his early decision school. Even knowing the odds, it hurt. This is where it helped to have other offers of admission already in hand to cushion the blow.
Tip: This part is miserable. As parents, we want to help our kids succeed and we hate to see them hurt or disappointed. Allow some time to be sad, mad, etc. Hopefully you have crafted a college list that will offer other great options and after the initial shock wears off you can review why other schools made your list.
Expect Challenges
As you approach college admissions consider three main areas: exploring colleges, standardized testing, and applying. Everyone will have different experiences and require different time frames. If you start each of these areas early, even if things take longer than expected, you should stay on track.