College Applications + FAFSA + Deadlines...Oh my!
Your guide to the college application process
If you're feeling overwhelmed by all the decisions you're going to be making that will decide the rest of your life...it's totally normal. College application season is definitely a crazy time, especially if you're the first child in your family going away to college. But the trick is to know when all the deadlines are and work back from there.
As a Junior in High School you should start preparing to apply for college. While your first college application might not be submitted until the summer going into your Senior year, you should still get ready. A couple of the really important things you're going to need when applying to colleges are test scores. These test scores come from specific tests known as SAT and ACT. Essentially, these are standardized tests to determine how ready you and your abilities are for the next level of education. They are two differently structured tests so you might do better on one over the other. The SAT has an essay, grammar, math and reading comprehension while ACT has an optional essay, grammar, math, reading comprehension and science.
I recommend that you start taking both of them through Junior year and that you take them at least 2-3 times, to receive the best scores possible. A lot of schools you apply to might even "super score" your scores which will make your overall score the best it can be.
The next item to begin working on your Junior year is your personal statement (no more than 700 words long). Now, contrary to popular belief, this does not need to be a sob story about how you lost your dog but managed to power through it. Sure you could use that example, but what if you don't really have anything "sad" or "unfortunate" to write about? No worries. Find something unique about yourself or that you enjoy doing and write about it; how you've learned/grown/helped others because of or through it. Make sure your voice is apparent throughout. Try to show the college admission office what you have to offer to make their campus an even more prestigious one. Here's an example of the personal statement I submitted to colleges:
I’m really good at getting letters sent home to my parents from the principal. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I hold the school record. I’ve gotten notes from Spanish 2 AND 3, U.S. History, and even from my favorite class, Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry. It always starts the same way: many of my classmates almost jump out of their desks with joy when our normal teacher fails to show up to class; high-fives are exchanged and soon a constant stream of chatter begins that lasts the entire period. The substitute, lacking the class’ respect and attention, doesn’t accomplish the lesson plan for the day. After a while, several substitute teachers are shuffled through the class, each one unable to make any progress in moving the class forward. After enough time of an unproductive class and a few of my own complaints to the office, the administration seems to take notice. Then it’s only a matter of days before one of our three vice principals is bound to come into my class, hair slicked back, exhibiting his hipster style, carrying a stack of crisp white letters that look all too familiar.
The purpose of these letters is to inform my parents that the class is undergoing a major change. The original teacher has either quit, fallen ill, fired, or has other personal necessities arise and is unable to complete the rest of the school year, therefore, the search for a long-term substitute has begun. Many classmates look forward to receiving these letters because they can relax and slack off without having to follow class rules or even having to learn for the rest of the school year; it’s essentially a free period. Honestly, the first time I received a letter of this sort I celebrated along with them. However, after the fourth time of these letters being sent home, I got so fed up! It was getting ridiculous. I felt odd because for once I was overcome with a sense of wanting to improve and learn.
With each new letter, comes a boatload of new responsibilities, with the inconsistency of new subs, I was constantly faced with situations where I needed to learn material that should be taught by a teacher but there was no “real” teacher to be found. At this point, I realized that if I wanted to learn anything, regardless of wanting a good grade, I needed to do something about my situation. I scheduled a meeting with my counselor, launched petitions to get a certified teacher in the classroom and even used some of my previous homeschooling techniques and forced myself to watch Spanish TV with hope I’d learn something, but nothing could fill the void of the non-existent teacher. Once I was finally able to grasp some of the material myself, I was sought out among my classmates who were struggling to understand. My sophomore year, an underclassman named Kelly would sit next to me in Spanish 2. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t understand the information on her own. Seeing that she was getting frustrated with herself, I asked if she wanted help, offered her a few tips on how to conjugate verbs in the preterite tense, and to this day she still texts me for help with more advanced Spanish and when we pass each other in the hallway, we laugh about the struggle of being in that class.
While I haven’t enjoyed acquiring many new substitutes that are unable to transition smoothly into our class and teach at our level, I like to look at the bright side of the situation. I believe that great things have come from it like becoming a more independent working student, a more creative problem solver, and someone who is always more than willing to let others vent and help them cope with the hardships that accompany getting letters sent home.
Recommended for you: An End or a Beginning?
If you have both the test scores you feel comfortable submitting to colleges and your personal statement, you can begin applying to colleges as early as the summer going into your Senior year.
After you have all your standardized test scores, personal statement and a credit card together, you can begin to apply to colleges. A lot of public universities use the Common application for this process, which is really convenient for you since you only have to fill out one application for a bunch of different schools. Other schools not using the Common app will have an application on their website. Unless you have a code or special instructions from the school, each application will come with a fee.
Next, you will need to send the schools to which you applied your official test scores from the ACT and SAT websites. Take special note to send both your application and scores in to your applied schools with enough processing time before their deadlines. Some schools (such as California State schools) have deadlines much earlier than other school's regular decision deadline so be aware of them.
Additionally, depending on whether you apply ED (Early Decision), EA (Early Action), or RD (Regular Decision) there are different deadlines as well. The difference between each lies in how committed you want to show the school you are to them. ED is the earliest and binding, so if you are accepted during this period, you HAVE to go there. The benefit to applying ED or even EA, is that you do show that you have a higher interest in the school than RD and your chances of getting in are a bit higher as well as getting some additional scholarships from the school. The EA deadline is shortly after the ED deadline and it's non-binding, that is, once you are accepted to a school, you are not forced to go there. RD is the last deadline of all these and is just as it sounds, regular decision.
FAFSA (Federal Student Aid) cannot be filled out until January 1st on the year you're graduating. "Why fill it out if I know I won't be eligible for Federal financial aid?" I hear you ask. Well, even if you don't receive any aid from the government, the schools to which you have been accepted will look at the FAFSA you submitted to determine the additional amount of aid they want to award you. So fill it out anyways!!
Then, let the waiting begin. There's nothing else you can do beyond this point except maybe make sure you check your e-mail regularly to see if you've gotten any information from your school. Good luck!!!