Completing your college application

Class of 2025

College Application Guide

3 Tips for Success

1. Read your email. Every day.

2. Be an active participant. Students, this is your future.

3. Ask questions and ask for help when you need it.

The MUST Do List for Summer 2024

1. Research colleges

2. Complete Student Brag Sheet if you are required to have letters of recommendations

3. Have a parent/guardian complete the Parent Point of View (Parent Brag Sheet) 

4. Come back in September with a core group of schools that will make up your college list (it's ok if it's not final).

5. Register for SATs and/or ACTs, if you plan to take them (register ASAP because seats are hard to come by)

6. Relax, reset, and spend some time away from your computer!

The Strongly Encouraged Additional To-Do List for Summer 2024

1. Visit some college campuses in person
   
   

2. Start to pull together the requirements for each school (e.g. types of applications accepted, deadlines, how many letters of rec, special requirements, etc. the best place to find the most current info is on the university's admission website. Look for something like "How to Apply". Click here for the College Application Tracker, a spreadsheet you can modify for your needs)

3. Improve (or re-write) your main application essay. Here are some brainstorming exercises, if you need to start over. College Essay Guy (CEG) has the BEST free resources out there for essay writing, including supplements and school-specific essays (like the UCs).

4. Start working on your activities list. I like to work in Google Docs first. Here's a great resource to help you improve your list!

5. Create a Common Application account (assuming you're using Common) and start working on it. Between now and late July, you can create your account (students should use a PERSONAL email address) and work on the "Common App" tab. The application will go down for a few days at the end of July and will "rollover" to next year's application on or about August 1. The info you have on the "Common App" tab (and all its subsections) will save. The school-specific info on the "My Colleges" tab will be deleted. Do not get excited about supplement essays until after August 1 - they might change, so best to wait until August for those unless the school has announced their supplements for 2024 elsewhere, like on social media.

Parent/Guardian To-Do List for Summer 2024

1. Complete theParent Point of View (Parent Brag Sheet) over the summer

2. Visit some college campuses in person

3. Have a few open and honest conversations with your child about parameters for their college search, including finances

4. Complete net price calculators for a few schools on your child's college list - especially if they are considering applying Early Decision (ED) (Pro Tip: Google: "collegename net price calculator")

5. Encourage and support your child through the application process, while resisting the (sometimes overwhelming) urge to do it for them :)

Some resources to help...

1. Pull together the requirements for each school (e.g. types of applications accepted, deadlines, how many letters of rec, special requirements, etc. the best place to find the most current info is on the university's admission website. Look for something like "How to Apply". Click here for the College Application Tracker, a spreadsheet you can modify for your needs)

2. Improve (or re-write) your main application essay. Here are some brainstorming exercises, if you need to start over. College Essay Guy (CEG) has the BEST free resources out there for essay writing, including supplements and school-specific essays (like the UCs).

3. Work on your activities list. I like to work in Google Docs first. Here's a great resource to help you improve your list!

4. Here's a video walkthrough of the Common App

BUILDING A COLLEGE LIST

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Decision Plans

As you determine which schools you will apply to, you will need to consider how you will apply. Each school offers one or more decision plans. Early admission deadlines typically range from October - December, and Regular or Rolling deadlines from November to February.

Note that a student who applies under one of the “early” options described below will generally receive one of the following three responses: (1) admission; (2) denial; or (3) deferral. A deferral will typically involve the application being reconsidered later in the application cycle, along with the regular decision applications.

Early Decision (ED)

Under the Early Decision option, a student applies by a stated deadline under a binding agreement to attend if admitted. Students may apply to only one school during Early Decision in the Fall. At the same time, the student should be sending and/or preparing additional applications, in case they are not admitted to their ED school. If admitted to the ED school, the student must withdraw all other college applications. Students who are deferred from ED are released from the binding agreement, and can move forward with other applications (regular, rolling, Early Action or Early Decision II application types). For some schools, students may improve their chances of admission by applying Early Decision, but it is important to remember that it comes with a very big commitment early in the process.

Early Decision (Binding) may be best for students who:

• Have visited (preferably multiple times); 

• Know they want to attend only that school; 

• Can reasonably afford to pay for that school (should complete the net price calculators and other school financial aid estimators first);

• Plan to apply to a competitive college and are qualified, but may not be highly competitive; and/or 

• Plan to apply to a very selective school and are highly qualified

Early Action (EA)

Early Action is a non-binding admission option that enables students who complete their applications early in the senior year to receive a response early in the process. Decisions for Early Action schools are typically sent in December and January.

Early Action (EA) may be best for students who: 

• Have a strong academic record through junior year;

• Have completed all testing requirements prior to August or October of the senior year; 

• Are highly organized and have all paperwork completed early; 

• Will continue strong academic performance through senior year; and 

• Are prepared to put their best work together for an application early in the Senior year.

Restrictive Early Action (REA) or Single Choice Early Action

Both of these early application types are uncommon, but do exist at some popular schools for HHS students. Specific restrictions and guidelines vary by college. Generally, students are restricted by the type of other early application they may put out, in addition to the REA/SCEA school. For example, a private school may dictate that a student can apply to other public schools under their Early Action plan, but may not apply to other private schools under their Early Action Plans. Read carefully, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re unsure, ask your school counselor or the College & Career Counselor for guidance.

Expect these schools to have some type of restrictive policy: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, Notre Dame.

Regular Decision 

Students who apply under the regular decision option apply by a stated deadline, and receive a decision during a designated time frame. Some schools release application decisions one-by-one, some in groups, and some all at once. Be aware that some schools do not notify their regular decision applicants until late March of the senior year.

Rolling Decision

Rolling decision schools consider applications on an ongoing basis, and release decisions on an ongoing basis. It is important not to wait until late in the year to apply to rolling decision schools, as spots in individual schools or in certain programs may fill early.

Who Sends What?

Student submits:

• application

• essay(s)

• portfolios

• self-reported grades/transcripts (required by some schools instead of an official transcript)

• SAT/ACT scores (if submitting at all. Some schools allow self-report on the application, other times they must be sent officially from College Board or ACT) 

• AP scores (self-report on application)

• outside letter of recommendation, if applicable (request through Common App)

• financial aid applications (FAFSA, CSS profile, NJ Alternative Aid App) and any requested supporting documents

• scholarship applications

School submits:

• official transcript through the Common Application or via Parchment depending on how your application is submitted

• Any required school report forms

• counselor letter of recommendation, if required and requested 

• teacher letters of recommendation, if required and requested

COMPLETING THE APPLICATION

In order to apply to a college, you need to fill out....an application. While a school may accept multiple types of application, you should fill out only one for each school.

It is helpful to have a good core of your college list determined before you start filling anything out. The key to making this part easier is to minimize the number of different applications you will fill out. If you have a very long list, you will also need to choose wisely, as some applications have a limit, and some schools only accept one type of application.

Application Types

The main application types are:

• Common Application (can create now - most students use the Common for a good portion of their schools)

• Group applications - Some groups of colleges have their own application (e.g. PASSHE schools in PA, the University of California Schools, etc.)

• Individual College Applications - Some schools require their own application, or offer their own application in addition to one or more of the others.

Tips Before You Get Started

• Start a spreadsheet (you can start with this one!), where you track what is required and accepted for each school. The more schools you plan to apply to - the more necessary this is. 

• Remember that the Common App has a limit of 20 schools. 

• Use your PERSONAL email address for all college applications. Make it professional. Check this email regularly.

• Make a note on your phone where you keep all of your college-related usernames and passwords.

• If you are eligible for free & reduced lunch, you qualify for fee waivers. Speak to your counselor, so that you know what this includes and how to use it wisely.

Common Application

• Max of 20 schools can be applied to using the Common App

• The main part - the Common App tab - goes to ALL of the schools. You can start this anytime. You can work on things in any order. You will get a check in each section, and eventually, a check on each page (on the left)

• Courses & Grades is only required by some schools (see the section about transcripts/self-reported grades)

• Under My Colleges, you will add each individual school you are applying to. They have their own questions - some more than others. This is where you will find the supplemental questions. Don't do this until August - because it will not rollover from the current year.

• There is a VERY SPECIFIC PROCESS for entering your recommendation requests in Common App. You will NOT ENTER teacher email addresses. We submit recommendations using SCOIR.

• There is not one big submit button. You will submit individually to each school.
  
  

Important Info for Applications (Class Size, GPAs, etc)

Class size: 247

GPA: Weighted. Use the cumulative weighted GPA from your transcript. Don't round up.

Rank: We do not rank.

Counselor names, emails and phone extensions

ACTIVITIES ON YOUR APPLICATIONS

Overview

The Spring of junior year is a great time to start pulling together your activities. Your college applications will ask that you recount the things that you’ve done during your high school years - and it’s easy to forget things! The act of pulling things together will help you to get all of the required information into one place, and will also help you to remember all the things you’ve done, in the event that you need to speak about them at an interview.

A few places to start pulling this together:

• Your XELLO 

• A Google Doc, so you can work with specific character counts and cut/paste easily (you'll thank us in the Fall)

What Counts?

As a high school student, you’ll want to think about all of the things that you have done, in and out of school, since the start of ninth grade. Think about what you do when you are not in class. Things have changed in the past year, so think about how you've pivoted. Some possibilities might include (but aren’t limited to):

• School or community/club sports teams

• School or community-based clubs

• Visual or Perfoming Arts: Plays/Musicals, Art Shows, Dance

• Part-time or full-time work, internships, or volunteering

• Community Service 

• Involvement at house of worship

• Summer Experiences

• Hobbies (e.g. gardening, teaching yourself to cook, teaching yourself how to program an app, creating a YouTube business/following)

• Responsibilities at home (maybe you watch your siblings every day and make them dinner until parents get home, or are a caregiver for a parent or grandparent)

What You Need

Ultimately, you're looking for two lists: one of Honors/Awards (top 5 will go on the Common App), one of Activities (room for 10 on the Common App)

• Organization name (max 100 characters)

• Position/leadership description (max 50 characters)

• Grade levels /dates of participation

• Description of activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received, etc. (max 150 characters)

• Approximate hours per week/number of weeks per year

You’ll want to highlight any awards or honors that you’ve received, along with any leadership positions that you’ve held. If you did it - put it down! We can always take it out later if it’s not adding much value. It’s especially important to highlight those activities where you have longevity and demonstrate dedication - those are probably the activities that highlight your interests and passions. Make sure that your most significant activities are listed first. Look for consistency across the parts of your application, including your essay and major choice. Everything should make sense together.

Resources

• Guide to Writing Your Common App Activities List

• Guide for Resume-Writing (with templates)

COLLEGE ESSAY(S)

Main Essay/Personal Statement

Most Junior English courses will cover the College Essay as one of the last assignments of the year, in late May or early June.

What you will need to write for admission purposes:

• Two year schools: an essay is usually not required, but you might need one for scholarship applications, honors programs, etc.

• Four year schools: you might need at least one "main" essay (generally the thing you will write in class) that you will use for most of your applications. Some (but not all) of your schools will also require supplemental (additional) essays. 

The absolute, hands-down, best resources out there for essay work are those provided by the College Essay Guy. I like to start with his some or all of his 5 exercises, which are listed in his College Application Hub under Application Pre-Work.

I recommend that you start with one of these topics (updates are usually made in February/March):

Click here to view the Common App Essay Topics (2024-25 topics)

The college essay is not the time to think about what you think the reader wants to hear - it’s about answering the prompt and telling your story in an authentic way. One college representative provides the following insight:

Every day, you eat lunch with the same 8-10 friends. These are people that know you fairly well, your best buds. One day, you leave your college essay behind on the table, but it doesn’t have your name on top. One of the others at the table picks it up, and starts to read it. If your essay is about you and sounds like you - and it's about something that’s truly important to you - a really good friend should be able to return it to you. If they can’t, consider whether you’ve really told your story (or if maybe they aren’t a really good friend!).

Sure, you want it to be grammatically correct and show off your personal writing skills - but what you say is just as important. It can’t be something that your classmate would write; it needs to be unique to your experience.

Supplemental Essays

These are essays that are specific essays requested by a particular school. It's important that these are highly personalized and highly customized. These are some of the best indicators of a student's "fit" (and sincere interest) in the school. Most schools max out at around 300 words for these, but sometimes they are much shorter - 150 words (a few sentences!) or even 150 characters!

Common topics for longer supplements: The "Why Us?" essay, The "Extracurricular" essay, The "Why this major/career" essay. 

These essay topics can change each year. New topics are not usually available until early August.

Some interesting examples of supplemental essay prompts:

• Life is a collection of moments, some random, some significant. Right now, you are applying to Babson College. What moment led you here? We invite you to submit your answer in either essay OR video format. If you choose to submit a video, please limit your response to a 1-minute video, which can be submitted via a shared link to YouTube or another video hosting website. (Babson College)

• Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time – what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study? (Carnegie Mellon University)

• If there’s a limited amount of matter in the universe, how can Olive Garden (along with other restaurants and their concepts of food infinity) offer truly unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks? Explain this using any method of analysis you wish—physics, biology, economics, history, theology… the options, as you can tell, are endless. (UChicago)

• You may live in one of the busiest cities in all the world or come from a small town with just one traffic light. The place that you call home has probably shaped who you are in some way. Tell us about where you are from and what, from there, you will bring to Villanova. (Villanova)

• Your favorite word. (Princeton)

• We would like to know more about your interest in NYU. What motivated you to apply to NYU? Why have you applied or expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, and or area of study? If you have applied to more than one, please also tell us why you are interested in these additional areas of study or campuses. We want to understand - Why NYU? (NYU)

Additional Information Section

On some applications, including the Common App, there is a place for students to write about other things that are important for the admission committee to know, that may not be disclosed elsewhere. This should only be included if necessary and is not a place for fluff or filler. It's also not another essay - it is a place for "information" only.

Some common items to include here: 

• important details about activities that wouldn't fit in the activities list

• health stuff

• any red flags (like a grade that is way off of your typical grades, why you dropped activities that you appeared to be committed to, why you are missing a subject that would be expected)

• circumstances that made it difficult to be involved in extracurriculars (e.g. I am a caregiver for someone else, or I work 25 hours a week to contribute to my family )

• physical or learning disabilities or differences (if you want to disclose)

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATIONS

What You Need (and don't need...)

Two-Year College Applicants: Letters of recommendation are not required.

Four-Year College Applicants: 

• Counselor letter of recommendation (may not be required for all schools)

• Two teacher letters of recommendation (may not be required for all schools)

BUT, some schools do not accept any letters. 

Most students do NOT need more than two letters, and should not plan to ask 4-5 teachers for letters of recommendation. Some students may need a third letter IF a particular school wants letters from certain subject areas (e.g. MIT, Princeton).

Counselor Letter of Recommendation

Your counselor will write a letter for you if at least one of your schools requires a letter.

You must:

• Complete the Brag Sheet  by *at least* 2 weeks before your deadlines. This is a great thing to do over the summer! 

• Have a parent/guardian complete the Parent Point of View 

Your counselor will use all of this information, as well as their knowledge of you, to write a counselor letter for you.

Teacher Letters of Recommendation

The Counseling department recommends that students ask TWO teachers for letters of recommendation by the end of junior year.

You should:

• concentrate on junior/senior year teachers, where possible. If not possible, go back to Sophomore year.

• get at least one from a teacher in a core academic area. More competitive schools will often only accept academic area teachers (no band, business, art, etc)

• ask in person or over email FIRST

• supply whatever information the teacher requests

• then request in The Common Application

Additional Letters of Recommendation

Additional letters are not needed for most applicants. Some colleges will accept additional letters, but MANY others will not. Additional letters should ADD to your application. They should not be "more of the same". You should first check to see if your colleges will accept additional letters before you ask someone! 

Outside letters of recommendation are best submitted by the recommender through the Common App system or sent directly to the college. Your counselor can assist with this in the Fall. Please do not ask more than 1 outside recommender - you will rarely have the opportunity to submit more than one!

Quick Video - How to Request Outside Letters in Common App

TESTING REQUIREMENTS

Test Optional and Test Blind

Test Optional - Students can choose to submit SAT/ACT scores, or not. It's up to the student.

Test Blind - Scores are not considered, even if submitted. The UC's are test blind, as are a few other schools.

Test Flexible - They'll take other tests - but they really want test scores. 

A reliable list of test-optional schools: FairTest.org (the most reliable source is always the college itself)

Check the college websites carefully to see their policies, and to make sure that there are no caveats (like scores are required for Nursing, or for Honors consideration, etc.). Sign up on the school's mailing list to be sure you receive the announcement as soon as it's made.

If I test, do I have to send my scores? Not if it's test optional.

Students who have very strong scores should send them, and they will continue to provide another piece of information for the admission office.

If I don't send scores, will my transcript matter more? Yes, as will everything else. The information on your transcript, though (not just your GPA), will be the only information the school has about you. If that's strong - this can be helpful for you. If it's not as strong as you'd like, you might consider whether your test scores would be more helpful.

SAT Registration Information

Register at: http://sat.collegeboard.org

Students who do not have a College Board account should create one using a personal email address. Also, be sure to use your full, legal name!

Register early for best odds at your preferred testing site!

TRANSCRIPTS

Overview and Definitions

At some point, all two and four-year schools will require a transcript, the document that lists all of your courses, grades and GPAs.

Two-year schools: Almost always only want a final transcript at the end of senior year - unless you are applying to an honors program.

Four-year schools: Will want a transcript of some type or a self-reported academic record. Each school will tell you what they want.

An unofficial transcript or self view - can be accessed by students from Parchment.com  at any time. 

An official transcript - is sent by your counselor to the college either through Common App or Parchment. Many schools require these when you apply - but not all!

Mid-year grades - are sent by your counselor in mid-February via the Common App or Parchment. This transcript shows your updated GPA from your 1st semester senior year grades.

Transcripts

Your counselor will send transcripts together with your other required materials, using the Common App or Parchment. 

Common App Courses & Grades: Some schools will have you self-report on the Common Application Courses & Grades section if you use this App. You will only have to do this section if one of the schools you are applying to requires it. Some popular schools that require include: ASU, Ohio State, Purdue, WVU, UArizona, UMass, UWisconsin