how to apply to college from start to finish
Summary
TLDRThis comprehensive video guide demystifies the college admissions process, outlining six key stages: creating a college list, initiating applications, crafting essays, obtaining recommendations, applying for financial aid, and submitting applications. It offers strategic advice on selecting schools, understanding application platforms, and writing compelling essays, while addressing financial considerations and the importance of recommendation letters. Aimed at high school seniors, the script provides actionable tips and resources to navigate the complex application journey successfully.
Takeaways
- 🎓 Understanding the college admissions process requires thorough research, including online forums, videos, and books.
- 📋 The six main stages of applying to college are creating a college list, starting your application, writing essays, getting letters of recommendation, applying for financial aid, and submitting your application.
- 🏫 Build your college list by categorizing schools into safety, match, and reach categories based on your academic credentials.
- 🔍 Consider various factors when selecting colleges, such as location, extracurricular opportunities, majors offered, cost, and climate.
- 🏢 Decide on the size and type of college (large, medium, small) and the class sizes (lecture vs. seminar style) that fit your preferences.
- 🌐 Use tools like College Board's College Search, attend college fairs, and consult with guidance counselors to find suitable colleges.
- 📧 Create a separate email address for college admissions to manage the influx of important messages effectively.
- 📝 Write compelling college essays that showcase your personality and experiences, avoiding rehashing your resume.
- 📝 Get recommendation letters from teachers who know you well, preferably from your junior year, and provide them with a brag sheet to highlight your accomplishments.
- 💸 Apply for financial aid using the FAFSA and CSS Profile if required, and use net price calculators to estimate the cost of attending different colleges.
Q & A
What are the six main stages of the college application process mentioned in the script?
-The six main stages of the college application process are creating your college list, starting your actual application, writing college essays, getting letters of recommendation, applying for financial aid, and submitting your application.
Why is it recommended to start building your college list during the summer before senior year or spring of junior year?
-It is recommended to start building your college list during this time because it allows you to research and identify the colleges that best fit your needs and preferences, ensuring you have enough time to explore your options before the application process begins.
What is the suggested number of colleges to apply to, and why?
-The suggested number of colleges to apply to is between 6 to 12. This range ensures a balanced application process, providing a variety of options including safety, match, and reach schools, which helps in managing expectations and increasing the chances of acceptance.
What are 'safety schools', 'match schools', and 'reach schools' in the context of college applications?
-Safety schools are colleges where your academic credentials are well above the 75th percentile, match schools are where your credentials fall within the 50th percentile, and reach schools are where your credentials fall below the 25th percentile. These categories help in managing the risk of not getting accepted and ensuring a balanced college list.
Why is it important to consider the size of the college when building your college list?
-The size of the college is important because it can impact the academic and extracurricular opportunities available, as well as the overall college experience. Larger colleges may offer more opportunities but can feel impersonal, while smaller colleges provide a more intimate experience but may have fewer resources.
What factors should be considered when deciding on the location of a college?
-Factors to consider when deciding on the location of a college include whether it's urban or rural, the distance from home, the climate, and the opportunities for jobs or internships. These factors can significantly affect your college experience and career prospects.
Why is it recommended to create a separate email address for college application-related communications?
-Creating a separate email address for college application-related communications helps to keep important messages organized and prevents them from getting lost or mixed up in your personal inbox, ensuring you receive and respond to all necessary communications promptly.
What is the purpose of the 'additional information' section in the Common App, and how should it be used?
-The 'additional information' section in the Common App is a place to provide context or details about extenuating circumstances, special classes, or other relevant information that doesn't fit elsewhere in the application. It should be used concisely to highlight important aspects that could influence the admissions decision.
What is the difference between 'early action', 'early decision', and 'restrictive early action' when applying to colleges?
-Early action is non-binding, meaning you can still choose whether to attend the school if accepted. Early decision is binding, requiring you to attend the school if accepted. Restrictive early action is a type of early action that prevents you from applying early to multiple schools at once.
Why is it important to submit a 'brag sheet' when asking teachers for recommendation letters?
-A 'brag sheet' provides teachers with a list of your accomplishments, activities, and classroom anecdotes, which can help them write a more detailed and compelling recommendation letter. It ensures they include the most relevant and impressive aspects of your academic and extracurricular profile.
What is the significance of May 1st in the context of the college application process?
-May 1st is known as National College Decision Day. It is the deadline by which students must commit to a college, typically by submitting a deposit or signing up for orientation. This date helps colleges manage their enrollment and allows students to finalize their college choice.
Outlines
📚 College Application Process Overview
The speaker introduces the video's purpose, which is to guide viewers through the college application process. They outline six main stages: creating a college list, starting the application, writing college essays, obtaining letters of recommendation, applying for financial aid, and submitting the application. The first part focuses on building a college list, ideally during the summer before senior year, and emphasizes the importance of applying to a mix of safety, match, and reach schools. The speaker also advises on the number of colleges to apply to and the factors to consider when choosing them, such as size, location, class size, and student to faculty ratio.
🏛 Factors in Selecting Colleges
This paragraph delves into the various factors a student should consider when selecting colleges, including location, distance from home, climate, available programs, curriculum flexibility, campus culture, extracurricular opportunities, and cost. The speaker discusses the advantages of urban versus rural campuses, the importance of aligning with campus culture and traditions, and the significance of considering merit-based scholarships and need-based aid. They also mention the use of tools like the College Board's College Search and the importance of attending college fairs and consulting with guidance counselors.
📝 Navigating Application Platforms and Writing Essays
The speaker discusses the process of starting the actual college application, recommending the creation of a separate email for college-related communications. They introduce the Common Application, Coalition Application, and QuestBridge as popular platforms for applying to colleges. The Common App is highlighted, with a walkthrough of its dashboard and the importance of writing supplemental essays and activity descriptions in a separate document before transferring them to the application. The speaker also touches on the use of the 'Additional Information' section for sharing extenuating circumstances and the option of applying for a fee waiver.
📖 Crafting the Perfect College Essay
The focus shifts to the importance of college essays in showcasing the applicant's personality and character. The speaker advises on writing techniques, such as showing rather than telling, using a conversational tone, avoiding resume rehashing, and providing a compelling narrative. They also emphasize the significance of feedback on essays and introduce the concept of the college essay boot camp, which aims to guide students through the essay writing process from start to finish.
💌 Letters of Recommendation and Financial Aid
The paragraph covers the process of obtaining letters of recommendation, suggesting that students ask their teachers in October and provide them with a brag sheet to assist in writing strong letters. The speaker also discusses the financial aid aspect of college applications, including the FAFSA and CSS Profile, and mentions the availability of scholarship searches through the College Board. They stress the importance of submitting all required materials and following up with counselors to ensure everything is submitted correctly.
🏆 College Decisions and Commitment
The final paragraph addresses the process after submitting applications, including the potential for interviews, receiving decisions, and the subsequent steps of comparing offers, potentially appealing financial aid decisions, and committing to a college by National College Decision Day on May 1st. The speaker encourages students to visit colleges, ask questions, and make informed decisions based on the best fit, and offers support through calls or essay reviews with their team at Next Admit.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡College Admissions Process
💡College List
💡Safety Schools
💡Match Schools
💡Reach Schools
💡College Essays
💡Letters of Recommendation
💡Financial Aid
💡Early Action
💡Early Decision
💡National College Decision Day
Highlights
The college admissions process involves six main stages: creating a college list, starting the application, writing essays, getting recommendations, applying for financial aid, and submitting the application.
Building a college list should ideally begin in the summer before senior year, aiming to find the best fit among over 4,000 US colleges.
A balanced college list includes safety, match, and reach schools, with a suggested range of 6 to 12 schools in total.
Academic credentials are categorized into three tiers for college applications: above the 75th percentile for safety schools, within the 50th percentile for match schools, and below the 25th percentile for reach schools.
Ivy League and top 20 schools are considered reach schools for all applicants, with extracurriculars and essays being key differentiators.
The phenomenon of 'shotgunning' sees top students applying to numerous prestigious schools, prioritizing prestige over fit.
Factors to consider when choosing colleges include location, extracurricular opportunities, majors offered, cost, climate, and campus culture.
College size can impact academic opportunities and the personal feel of the campus, with larger colleges offering more but potentially feeling less intimate.
Class sizes and student-to-faculty ratios are important for access to professors and learning styles.
Location factors such as urban vs. rural, distance from home, and climate can greatly affect the college experience.
Program availability and curriculum flexibility are crucial, with some colleges offering more personalized academic paths.
Campus culture, including diversity, social scene, and traditions, should align with student values and interests.
Extracurricular opportunities, including sports, clubs, and internships, are vital for a well-rounded college life.
Cost is a significant factor, with net price calculators and financial aid options available to estimate out-of-pocket expenses.
The college application process can be streamlined using tools like the College Board's College Search and creating a tracking sheet in Google Drive.
Early application options like Early Action, Early Decision, and Restrictive Early Action come with different binding terms and potential advantages.
The Common App fee waiver program can help reduce the financial burden of application fees for eligible students.
College essays are a critical part of the application, allowing students to showcase their personality and experiences beyond numbers.
Letters of recommendation provide an outside perspective on the student's character and achievements.
Financial aid, including FAFSA and CSS Profile, plays a significant role in making college education accessible.
Submitting a complete application involves a checklist of requirements, including essays, recommendations, test scores, and fees.
Post-application steps include interviews, mid-year reports, and final transcripts, which colleges use to assess ongoing academic performance.
Decision outcomes can vary from acceptance to waitlisting or rejection, with options to appeal financial aid or compare offers.
National College Decision Day on May 1st is the deadline for students to commit to a college, concluding the application process.
Transcripts
back in high school I spent months
trying to understand the college
admissions process I would scour online
forums I would watch videos I would
email my guidance counselor I would even
read books and the truth is a lot of the
best information about college
applications is scattered all across the
internet it was very hard to find one
source that broke down the process in
enough detail well lucky for you that's
why I'm making this video today we're
gonna cover how to actually apply to
college we're gonna break down six main
stages creating your college list
starting your actual application writing
college essays getting letters of wreck
applying for financial aid and then
finally submitting your application so
let's Dive Right In the first part of
the college application process is
building your college list and you
generally want to do this the summer
before your senior year or even the
spring of your junior year so the US has
over 4 000 colleges and the purpose of
this stage is to find the few colleges
that are the best fit for you so now you
might be wondering gohar how many
colleges should I actually we apply to
you're going to get a variety of answers
but I think the safe ballpark is
anywhere between 6 to 12 schools and you
want to split up your college list into
three buckets you want safety schools
match schools and reach schools now the
reason you want these three buckets is
because you want to make sure that
you're applying to some schools that you
know you have a good chance of getting
into you don't want to be the one kid
that applies to every single School in
the top 20 and nothing else and gets
rejected from everywhere trust me I have
seen this happen a few times so safety
schools are colleges where your academic
credentials namely your GPA sat or ACT
score fall well above the 75th
percentile match schools are colleges
where your academic credentials fall
within the middle 50th percentile and
reach schools or schools where your
academic credentials fall below the 25th
percentile now before you go ahead and
call Harvard to safety because you have
a 1600 on your sat I do want to add one
caveat every single Ivy League school is
a reach school no matter what grade
grades you have for the ivy league and
honestly every school in the top 20 your
grades and academic credentials are just
the threshold to being considered it's
your extracurriculars letters of wreck
essays and awards that'll actually get
you into these schools the top 20
schools are reaches for everyone no
matter your grade or accomplishments
okay so now let's break down the numbers
ideally you want around three safeties
four to five matches and around two to
three reaches now I'll be honest this is
the standard breakdown that most
Consultants or even your guidance
counselor will give you but I'm gonna
let you in on a little unfortunate
secret many students especially those
with top grades apply to way more than
just two to three reaches in recent
years there's been a phenomenon called
shotgunning where many top students will
apply to almost every single Ivy League
school or a bunch of schools in the top
20. these students care much more about
Prestige than about whether or not a
certain school is the right fit for them
and so that's why they'll just apply to
every prestigious school they can think
of now should you do this well it's up
to you I'm not gonna sit here and tell
you to not do it because I would be a
hypocrite back in high school I was that
kid who applied to a bunch of Ivy League
schools and I'll be honest I wasn't just
chasing the prestige top schools and
especially Ivy League schools have great
financial aid programs and I knew that I
really wanted to benefit from one of
them all right so now that we've broken
down with the composition of your
college list should look like let's go
ahead and talk about the different
factors that you should consider when
deciding which colleges to apply to so
there are a bunch of variables that come
into play here and I'll go ahead and
break each of them down briefly you have
things like location extracurricular
opportunities majors and minors offered
cost climate and so much more I highly
recommend that you pull out a sheet of
paper and write down the criteria that
you're looking for in the colleges that
you're applying to and if you're too
lazy to do that don't worry I have a
worksheet in the description of this
video so first and foremost you want to
consider the size of the college large
colleges will have more academic and
extracurricular opportunities but these
colleges might feel a bit impersonal and
a bit too overwhelming for some students
smaller colleges on the other hand might
be limited in the amount of clubs or
programs or Majors that they offer but
you will get more of that tight-knit and
cozy college experience what you want is
totally up to you personally I didn't
want to go to too small of a college so
I was opting for something more
medium-sized or larger now besides the
physical size of the college and the
number of students at the school you
also want to consider class sides you
want to see whether the college offers
more lecture style classes with hundreds
of students or more seminar style
classes with just a few dozen with
lecture style classes you'll have way
less access to your professors and your
learning will be a lot more
self-directed on the other hand seminar
style classes are a lot more intimate
and Hands-On and they'll give you a lot
more access to your professors now the
reality is a lot of colleges have a mix
of both of these but it does help to
look into whether or not a certain
School leans one way or the other a
statistic I highly recommend you look up
is these two student to faculty ratio
okay so the second thing that you want
to consider is location now there are a
couple variables when it comes to
location you want to consider Urban
versus rural distance from home and
climate Urban college campuses will give
you more opportunities particularly when
it comes to jobs or internships for
example if you're interviewing for
internships during the school year you
might be able to do in-person interviews
or even stop by the various offices a
more Suburban or rural college campus
will not give you this privilege but to
be honest that's not too big of a deal
because you could simply work a remote
internship or do remote interviews so I
think the main factor that you want to
consider is that Urban college campuses
tend to be more lively and fun in my
opinion if you want lots of people
around you if you want some sightseeing
opportunities if you want nice
restaurants or food options then an
urban college campus will definitely
give you that whereas a rural one might
not however I do think rural college
campuses are great for certain types of
students for example if you enjoy nature
or if you want something more peaceful
and quiet then by all means opt for
these more peaceful environments and
when it comes to location you also want
to consider distance from home if you
live on the east coast but you go to
college on the west coast chances are
you will only see your family on the
holidays whereas if you go to college
within the same state you might see your
family once a month or even once a week
trust me there are quite a few freshmen
that visit home pretty often and of
course the most important variable that
you want to consider when it comes to
location is climate just a fair warning
all the IVs are located in the Northeast
so be ready for some frigid Winters back
when I was in college I will never
forget this one time I went out to get
dinner with my friends and I honestly
thought my face was gonna freeze and
fall off December in Boston is not a
good time now the next variable that you
want to consider is the available
programs you want to look deep into the
different majors and minors certain
colleges offer for example if you're
really into cyber security or
biotechnology not every school offers
programs in those fields so dig deep do
your research and make sure you're apply
applying to schools that actually will
teach you the things you want to learn
and then another variable you want to
consider is the flexibility of the
curriculum some colleges have a required
set of core classes that you will have
to take no matter what whereas other
colleges will give you the opportunity
to sort of craft your own curriculum one
example that comes to mind is Brown's
open curriculum which is very flexible
and lets students craft their own
academic Journeys and then of course you
also want to consider the reputation of
the programs at the school if you want
to go into Fields like Finance or
Consulting the reputation of not only
the program but also the school matters
a lot whereas if you want to go into a
field like Tech the reputation of your
school doesn't matter as much tech
companies will pay more attention to
your actual skills and the projects
you've completed alright the next
variable you want to consider is campus
culture now the culture of a college
campus is heavily influenced by the
diversity of the student body not only
in terms of ethnicity or race but also
in terms of academic interest in terms
of political ideology and a handful of
other variables so make sure you're
going to a school whose culture aligns
with your values now you also want to
consider things like the social scene or
Traditions one thing that I would do a
lot in high school is I would just watch
Vlogs about certain colleges just to get
a sense of what the students were like
and let me tell you right now if you are
considering MIT we have a fantastic
hacker culture essentially it's pretty
much Tradition at MIT for students to
pull off different hacks throughout the
school year in years past students have
put Captain America's shield on the Dome
they've put an ambulance on the Dome
they've put R2D2 on the Dome as you can
tell MIT students love to put things on
top of the Dome so yeah I recommend that
you look into these sorts of cultures
and traditions at different schools and
see which ones Vibe with you and one
last but very important element of
Campus culture is residential life be
sure to look into the dorms that are
offered at the schools you're interested
in and look into the sort of housing
residential system they have Harvard for
example has all students living pretty
close to each other freshman year they
all live in dorms that are adjacent to
the Harvard Yard but in later years they
go off into their own housing units
alright we're almost done here I know
we're going through a bunch of different
variables right now but the next thing
that you want to consider are the
extracurricular opportunities offered at
the school look into the sports that are
offered looking to be different clubs
and organizations look into any
internship or Co-op or study abroad
programs your college experience is not
just going to be defined by the classes
you take and the things you learn but
also by the people that you meet and the
circumstances that you meet them in if
you're super into competitive
programming maybe you want to see if the
school has a competitive programming
Club if you're really into Recreational
Sports well that's an important thing to
look into on the bright side I find that
most colleges offer dozens if not
hundreds of different clubs and
extracurricular opportunities and if you
don't find the exact opportunity that
you want a lot of these schools will let
you start it yourself okay and finally
one of the most important variables that
you should consider when applying to
college is cost for every school that
you're considering I recommend searching
up its name followed by net price
calculator on Google look I redirected
to a link where you'll be able to input
your family's Financial info nation and
get an estimate for the amount of
financial aid that you might receive
these numbers are not going to be a
hundred percent accurate but they'll
give you a pretty good idea of what your
family might have to pay out of pocket
and as you're considering cost I also
want you to consider if the school
offers any merit-based scholarships or
has need based Aid a merit-based
scholarship is essentially money that a
school will throw at you for having a
certain GPA SAT score or ACT score
need-based Aid is a financial aid that a
school will give you based on the income
level of your family and just a heads up
the ivy league offers fantastic
need-based Aid even for international
students and as you're crunching the
numbers for these different schools I
also recommend that you calculate the
ROI or the return on investment of the
different schools you're considering
look at your expected costs look at the
expected salary of the degree that you
want to major in and see if you think
going to that college and pursuing that
certain degree is a worthwhile
investment on your money I'll provide a
worksheet that you can use to calculate
Roi in the description of this video
alright so now that you've written down
and understand the different things that
you're looking for in colleges it's time
to actually start finding different
colleges that meet these criteria now
you can use a bunch of different tools
to search for colleges but before I dive
into any of them I highly recommend that
you go to Google Drive and create a
sheet to keep track of all the schools
you're interested in now if you're too
lazy to go ahead and make this table
yourself once again I have a template in
the description of this video okay so
one of my favorite tools for finding
colleges is college boards College
search so if you go ahead and Google
College Board college search you'll see
a page like this and you can search for
colleges based on many different
variables for example occasion Majors
type campus life and so on but of course
this isn't the only tool that you have
to use you can also attend college fairs
talk to your guidance counselor you can
talk to friends and family members about
schools they would recommend for you and
you can even talk to my team over at
next admit you can book a consultation
called one of our consultants and they
would be happy to help you find
different colleges okay so as you're
building out this table of different
colleges and keeping track of variables
like cost location majors
extracurriculars and so on you should
also identify the requirements for each
of these schools look into whether or
not the school requires you to take the
SAT or the ACT figure out whether the
school recommends you take a specific
High School curriculum for example if
you search up a school's name followed
by a recommended High School courses
you'll usually find a web page that
lists the classes the college expects
you to take during your four years in
high school for example on this webpage
on Harvard's website they recommend that
you take four years of math courses in
high school and then on top of course
requirements you also want to see if the
school has any supplemental essays
allows you to submit a portfolio or
requires you to submit something special
for example Princeton requires students
to submit a graded English paper
Dartmouth highly recommends that
students submit a peer recommendation
different schools have different
requirements so just make sure you're
keeping track of them in your table oh
and by the way if you want to learn
about these supplemental essays for the
IVs and want to understand how to answer
them check out the Articles I've Linked
In the description of this video okay so
now you should have a table with a bunch
of different colleges and a lot of
information it's time to narrow your
college list now you can do this in a
variety of ways but I highly recommend
that you consider visiting the schools
or attending virtual info sessions or
tours and as you're doing all this make
sure that you're taking as many notes as
you possibly can so you can narrow down
your college list finally once you have
your narrowed list you want to figure
out if you want to apply it early
anywhere so most colleges have two
deadlines they have an early deadline
and a regular deadline the early
deadline is usually November 1st and the
regular deadline is usually around
January 1st now applying early comes
with a handful of advantages the biggest
one being that you can end the college
admissions process pretty early if you
get into your dream School mid-December
congrats you don't really have to worry
about your regular decision applications
but on top of that applying early also
shows the college that you're
particularly interested in attending
which might give you a slight admissions
boost the extent of this boost even if
there is one at all is usually highly
debated but for most schools I think it
saves to assume that it helps just a
little bit okay so when it comes to
applying early you have three different
kinds of early applications you have
early action early decision and
restrictive early action so the main
difference between early action and
early decision is that early action is
non-binding whereas early decision is
binding in other words if you get in
through an early decision program you
are required to go to that school on the
other hand if you get in through an
early action program you can still
choose whether or not you want to go to
that school and restrictive early action
is just a weirder version of early
action essentially restrictive early
action prevents you from applying early
to multiple schools at once for example
if you apply early to Harvard you can't
also apply early to Princeton and Yale
but the vast majority of schools don't
have restrictive early actions so you
probably don't have to worry about it
too much and just a quick side note if
you're planning to apply early to a
school and want to submit your test
scores I recommend wrapping up your SATs
and your acts the summer before senior
year and with all of that we have
wrapped up the first part of this video
which is building your college list the
next part of the college application
process is starting your actual
application now generally you'll do this
in August when all the college
applications open up and before you go
ahead and start working on your actual
applications I highly recommend that you
create a separate email address for
everything College admissions related
during the college application process
you're going to get a ton of messages
from the Common App from different
colleges and other sources and
ultimately you don't want these
important messages getting lost or mixed
up in your current inbox so when you're
applying to college you can apply
through several different platforms if
you have the common application the
Coalition application and you have Quest
Bridge there are some other options as
well but these are the three most
popular ones plus bridge is mainly
targeted towards low-income students but
it is a fantastic program that I highly
recommend students look into and when it
comes to the Common App versus the
Coalition app the Common App is a lot
more popular and chances are that 99 of
you watching are going to apply through
the Common App so let's take a quick
tour of the Common App and see how you
actually fill out your college
application so if you go to
commonapp.org you'll see a page that
looks like this I recommend that you
click on create an account and start
your account as early as possible
chances are most of you want to click on
first year student and then just go
through the normal registration process
so since I already have a dummy account
let me go ahead and log in and show you
what this looks like so when you log
into the Common App this is what you'll
see you'll see a dashboard that lists
all the colleges that you're applying to
you'll see a Mycologist tab a common app
tab a college search Tab and then a
financial aid tab so pretty much all the
work is going to happen between these
two tabs my colleges and the Common App
So within the Mycologist tab is where
you're going to write all of your
supplemental essays and answer any
college specific questions for example
this right here is a supplemental essay
for brown 200 to 250 words and you can
write it right here in this box but I
highly recommend you don't do this right
away I recommend that you create a
separate Google doc that has all of your
supplemental essays and activity
descriptions once you have finished your
essays in the separate document and once
you're happy with them copy them over to
the common application station so you
can submit yes the Common App does save
your answers but I think you're much
safer just writing everything in a
separate dock okay and then under the
Common App tab is where you'll have all
of your general questions about you your
family education testing and so on and
it's in this tab that you will write
your activity descriptions and your
common app essay once again save
everything in a separate Google doc
first now there is a special part of the
common application that I want to
highlight so if you go to the Common App
Tab and go to the writing section and
scroll all the way down you will see a
box titled additional information now
many people recommend that you don't
write too much in the additional
information section and I agree but I
think this is a fantastic spot to tell
admissions officers about any
extenuating circumstances course
conflicts special classes you've taken
and so on back when I was applying to
college I even used this to list some
additional Awards and activities I
wasn't able to list on my main
application but above all else I kept
this section very short and concise okay
so now here's one of the harsh realities
of the college application process
submitting applications costs money
nowadays the average college application
costs anywhere between 50 to 80 dollars
to submit and if you're applying to 10
plus schools the cost can rack up pretty
quickly well fortunately the Common App
offers something called the Common App
fee waiver which might let you apply to
college for free I highly recommend that
you search up Common App fee waiver
click on the first result and then
you'll see the eligibility requirements
for getting a common at fee waiver and
this page also has more information
about how to get your fee waiver whether
International students are eligible and
what you should do if you don't meet the
fee waiver criteria okay so now let's
move on to part three of today's video
college essays college essays are one of
the most important parts of your college
application because they are where your
voice shine through every other part of
your college application is more numbers
based or is pretty objective for example
your test scores your transcript your
GPA these don't really give a sense of
your personality and character and
ultimately as admissions officers are
building their classes they want to
understand the kinds of students they're
accepting thing so imagine your college
essay as the one opportunity you have to
sit in front of your admissions Officer
and tell your story so the reality is
there are different kinds of college
essays you will have to write during the
process you have the personal statement
and then you have supplemental essays
the personal statement is a college
essay that will go to all the schools
that you're applying to you may also
hear me and others refer to it as the
Common App essay supplemental essays on
the other hand are school specific
essays that you will have to submit for
each individual College the reality is
the college essay process is very
nuanced and I can make over a dozen
videos just about college essays and
that's exactly what I'm doing I'm soon
launching something called the college
essay boot camp that'll take you from
start to finish on your college essay
but I will go ahead and give you my high
level pieces of advice for the college
essay tip number one which you have
probably heard thousands of times
already is show don't tell the college
essay is ultimately a story where you
are the main character you don't just
want to tell admissions officers I'm
hard working or I like computer your
science you want to tell an evocative
and immersive story that engages the
admissions officer for example instead
of just saying that you love computer
science maybe you can write about the
experience of building an app from
scratch and as you're telling the story
you want to make sure that you keep your
writing conversational the college essay
is not a research paper it's not some
formal piece of writing you can use
contractions and you should feel free to
adapt a relaxed tone next make sure you
don't rehash your resume the college
essay is not a place to tell the
admissions officer about all your
accomplishments that's what your
activities list and your honors list is
for the point of the college essay is to
convey your character world view and
values to the admissions officer so
Focus just on one of your interests or
one of your experiences that can convey
something like leadership or
intellectual curiosity it also helps to
ask yourself so what as you're writing
your essay for example if you tell a
story about building an app so what why
should an admissions officer accept you
does the admissions officer believe
you're going to come to their campus and
make strides in their computer science
department do they believe you might go
on to find a very successful startup one
day it helps to think about how the
reader of your essay perceives you and
your potential and so that's why it's
also very important to get feedback on
your college essay ask your English
teacher ask your guidance counselor and
maybe even ask a friend or a family
member but chances are they might not
give you super detailed line-by-line
advice they might just say oh yeah this
is a good essay you should submit it or
maybe they'll say oh this doesn't sound
like you and you should try something
else so if you want very detailed line
by line feedback edits and an overall
review of your college essay check out
next admits essay review serve it we
have a team of Ivy League Consultants
who would be happy to give you in-depth
feedback okay next let's talk about
letters of recommendation so when you
apply to college you will have to submit
three recommendation letters one from
your guidance counselor and two from
your teachers these recommendation
letters are essentially speaking to your
character accomplishments academic
ability and the help admissions officers
get an outside perspective on the kind
of student you are it's one thing to
write an essay and say that your
intellectual really curious it's another
to have your teacher tell an admissions
officer that you're intellectually
curious I think it's best to ask
teachers for letters of wreck sometime
in October and make sure you're asking
teachers ideally from junior year and
those who have seen you interact in a
classroom context make sure the teachers
you ask are those that you know very
well and those who can attest to your
redeeming qualities I highly recommend
you ask your teachers in person so you
can gauge their enthusiasm obviously the
best letters are going to come from the
teachers who are very excited to write
one for you also very important to know
try to ask only junior year teachers you
could ask a sophomore year teacher if
you really can't think of anyone else
but you do not want to ask any freshman
year teachers for a letter of Rec
chances are they probably can't speak
much to who you are today and finally
after you ask your teachers for letters
of Wreck it helps to give them something
called a brag sheet a brag sheet is a
list of your accomplishments activities
anecdotes from the classroom that can
help your teacher write an outstanding
letter I have a Brack sheet template
that you can use and fill out and in the
description of this video okay next
let's briefly talk about financial aid
which is a very important part of the
application process most of you will
want to fill out something called the
FAFSA which opens up October 1st this is
an application for federal financial aid
some schools might also require you to
fill out something called the CSS
profile which provides a more nuanced
look into your family's Financial
circumstances to see whether or not a
school requires the CSS profile you can
just search up a school's name followed
by financial aid requirements I might
make a video or a guide about the FAFSA
and CSS sometime in the future so let me
know if that would be helpful a tool
that I like to use to find scholarships
is the College Board scholarship search
here it is you can use this tool to find
matches from over 6 000 programs and the
great part is this tool will help you
find scholarships based on your
interests situations affiliations and so
on okay so now let's move on to one of
the final parts of this video submitting
your application so now you want to make
sure that you have submitted everything
that is required of you and let me go
ahead and read off my checklist that
might be helpful all parts of your
common app teacher recommendations
counselor recommendation and secondary
school report transcript view waiver or
application fee and test scores and
obviously for some schools test scores
are optional make sure to submit
whatever you can and then follow up with
your guidance counselor to see if
they've submitted everything else so a
few days after you've applied to all
these colleges it will send you
individual links for the application
portals and you can access these portals
to track all of your application
requirements and see what has been
submitted and on these portals you might
see something called the mid-year report
now here's the thing after you apply to
college these schools will still see
your senior year grades they'll ask for
your mid-year report which will reveal
your performance halfway through senior
year and then the school that you choose
to attend will also want to see your
final transcript to see if you
maintained your grades so by all means
try to fight off senioritis now
something else that I want to flag are
interviews a few weeks after you apply
to a college an alumnus might reach out
to you asking to schedule an interview
now not every school does interview use
but many of them in the top 20 do now
College interviews are surprisingly
casual they're just conversations
between you and someone who has gone to
the school and you should see them as an
opportunity to learn more about the
school and to ask any questions you have
now once these are over and a few months
have gone by it is finally time for
decisions so now if you applied early to
a school you probably already got your
decisions mid-December but for the
schools you applied regular to you're
going to get your decisions back in
March or April now if you applied early
you'll either be accepted deferred or
rejected if you applied regular you'll
either be accepted waitlisted or
rejected a deferral is simply a
College's way of saying we haven't made
a decision on you and your application
will be re-evaluated during the regular
decision route getting waitlisted
essentially means that a college is
going to wait to see who accepts their
offers and then based on how much room
is left they might take some students
off the wait list now once you get your
offers it's very important that you
compare them with one another and find
the best fit for you you will probably
want to visit the colleges if you
haven't done so already ready and if you
find that a school is too expensive or
isn't giving you enough financial aid
just know that you can submit a
financial aid appeal letter this is
essentially a request for more money
from a college and I'll link a template
in the description of this video and
after you've played this comparison game
and figured out which college is the
best fit for you it's time to lock in
and commit to a college on May 1st which
is National College decision day after
that you might have to submit a deposit
or sign up for orientation but largely
that should wrap up the college
application process now I hope this
video helped and if it did it would mean
the world if you could share it with
other seniors who are going through the
admissions process and if you want to
hop on a call or get an essay review
from me or my team once again you can
find us over at nextadmin best of luck
getting through the college application
season and just know that I'm here
rooting for you
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