Things to Know When Applying for College

October 05, 2018 By Belle
Get Ready for Your College Application (College Advice)   

When I began applying for college, the first thing I noticed was the importance of being a well-rounded student.  Not only do you have to maintain grades, but you should also devote time to volunteering (e.g. food/clothing drives) and other extracurricular activities such as high school sports (I did varsity cross country for all 4 years), clubs (I was involved in Math Honor Society, National Honor Society, and French Honor Society), and jobs/internships (I held a medical internship at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, WA).

Here are a few tips that I recommend when beginning the application process:

Start the application early

Many colleges will use the Common App which is a universal application for many private schools in particular.  It includes the personal statement, transcript_ information, and activities that the student is involved in.  I started this part of the application over the summer before my senior year of high school.  I took an SAT/college prep summer session the summer before my junior year where we learned how to write the personal statement.  I highly recommend enrolling into these types of prep classes – you will learn important study habits as well as tricks to approaching test questions.

Get involved in extracurriculars but don’t overload yourself

Colleges appreciate students who manage their time wisely and balance their school and social life.  However, while you should strive to get job experience, leadership in clubs, or community service, you also need to show commitment.  What this means is that you don’t want to spread your time out over many activities but hone in on 3 to 4 and devote more of your time and energy to those things.  A general order of the most significant aspects that colleges look for in students are: rigor (how hard your classes are), GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and volunteer service/extracurriculars.

If a college that you are applying for offers “early action”, then by all means take advantage of that

“Early action” means that you can submit your application roughly a month earlier than the deadline and know whether you got accepted sooner.  This cuts the wait-time down significantly.  I applied to California State University, Long Beach and did early action and heard back from them by December, whereas the schools that didn’t offer early action did not get back to me until around April at the latest.  On the other hand, “early decision” is similar, except that you are bound to that school so if you get accepted, then you have no choice but to attend it.