For all CHS Seniors, it’s college-application season: a stressful, exhausting time of visiting colleges, researching programs, and writing essays upon essays. It’s a dizzying, complicated process. Fortunately, we have five tips that might make application season easier for you.
- Do Not Procrastinate
Procrastination is your worst enemy. College essays— both your main essay and your supplementals— take a lot of time to write and edit. If you procrastinate all that work, you’ll find yourself completely overwhelmed and writing lower-quality pieces that can hurt more than help your chances.
Furthermore, there are many time-sensitive things you need to do, such as requesting your recommendation letters or school transcripts. CHS policy demands you request these things at least three weeks before you need them. If you don’t submit the request on time, you won’t get them at all, and then you won’t be able to apply to colleges.
Do everything as soon as you possibly can. Remember: deadlines approach faster than you’d think!
- Always Get a Second Opinion
It’s tempting to decide that the first draft of an essay is good enough and call it a day, especially if you’ve got a dozen more essays to write, but you never, ever want to submit the first draft of an essay. Since writing an essay makes you familiar with it, I would recommend you get a second opinion on your writing pieces: a teacher, a friend, a family member, or even just your own re-read (on a different day, preferably when you’re alert and focused). Other people tend to find our blind spots sooner than we can. There’s no shame in asking for help!
- Research Your Colleges
If there’s one thing you can prioritize, it’s understanding if the college you’re applying to actually suits your interests and your lifestyle. You never want to apply somewhere you’d hate either studying at or living in, no matter what anyone says— you really want to be passionate about this place. Especially if you’re applying Early Decision: you want to be 100% certain that you’d be thrilled to be there.
Additionally, this passion really bleeds through in college essays: if you like your college and its program, it will show. And there’s nothing an institution loves more than an enthusiastic, well-written essay littered with specific details.
All this to say, make sure you research any college you’re interested in thoroughly: look through its website, through reviews, and interact with its students. When college representatives come to CHS, you should go and see them. Above all, try to visit the college in person if you can. The more familiar you are, the better your chances of understanding and getting accepted to that college are.
- Be Organized
There are a lot of things that go into applying for college: your main essay, your supplementals, FAFSA/CSS, scholarships, transcripts, etc. It’s easy to lose track of things, so it’s important to remain organized! I would recommend keeping track either on a Google Doc or physically on your progress, and the location of each of these things. It makes life a lot easier!
- Take Some Time to Relax
While this time of high school is stressful and busy, you should remember to take some time off, relax, and take care of yourself when you can. If you keep working too hard for too long, you’ll burn yourself out— and that helps no one. You will get through this alright.
I hope these tips will help you!
