With the Early Decision and Early Action deadline for many colleges passing on November 1, many high school seniors across the country rushed to submit their applications at the last minute. Though this information may not be the best of help for current seniors, I hope these tips can help future seniors overcome the November 1 deadline. Now before I get started, you might be wondering what the difference between Early Decision and Early Action is. Early Decision (ED) is a binding decision with the college you apply to. If you are accepted, you must withdraw applications from all other colleges you’ve applied to and commit to the one you were accepted into. On the other hand, Early Action (EA) is a non-binding application that does not require a decision until May. When you apply to a college through Early Action, you will receive acceptance letters between late December to early February rather than later April or early May. With that being said, let’s get into my personal college application advice!

1. Build a College List at the End of Junior Year

Yes, junior year is very stressful academically speaking, but after the huge wave of stress dies down at the end of the year, you should begin looking at colleges that interest you. Your guidance counselor will typically try to meet with you at some point during the school year to talk about where you want to go after high school, and they can help direct you toward colleges that will fit you. They typically recommend finding 2 colleges that are reaches, 2-3 that are targets, and 2-3 that are safeties, so you have 6-8 colleges total to apply to. Reach colleges are the ones that would be more difficult to get into, targets are ones where you meet the GPA/test score requirements, and safeties are colleges that you can definitely get accepted to, but would most likely only commit to if everything else goes wrong. By building your college list at the end of your junior year, you’ll already know what colleges to add to your Common App for the next step!

2. Complete the Common App Questions as Soon as They Open

If you’re unfamiliar with the process of college applications, most colleges will accept applications completed through Common App. Every college you apply to has a college-specific set of questions you must answer prior to completing the application. However, these questions can be very time-consuming because the questions do not save for other colleges. Though the summertime is supposed to be free of school work, I highly recommend filling out the Common App profile and college-specific questions when the Common App opens on August 1st of the summer following your junior year. Personally, filling these out saved me a lot of time when the school year started because I didn’t have to worry about completing them while also adjusting to the new block schedule and taking 5 AP classes.

3. Write Your College Essay Before the Start of Your Senior Year

Again, although summer is supposed to be stress-free, writing your college essay before September clears up the piling schoolwork that always comes with the beginning of the school year. Personally, I wrote my college essay during the last couple of weeks of August, and I was able to have people look over it leading up to the Early Action deadline. Just from hearing all of my friends panic about writing their essays last minute, I knew I made the right decision in writing it over the summer. Writing your essay early can also give you enough time to meet with teachers who can look over it and give you feedback. 

4. Go on as Many College Tours as You Can

Applying to 6-8 colleges, if not more, can be pretty expensive, especially if you’re taking multiple AP classes and intend on taking their exams. College applications typically range between $50-85 and on top of paying almost $100 per AP exam, you’re spending hundreds of dollars just during the first marking period. Spending this much money doesn’t even account for fees for after-school activities like sports, clubs, and school dances. However, you can reduce the amount of money you spend on college applications by touring as many colleges as you can. Many of the colleges that I visited handed out fee waiver codes with their information packets, and I was able to cut out the fees for 3 colleges. Not only do you get to check out the campus and the surrounding area, but you can easily make a fun vacation with your family out of the trip. 

Overall, I hope these tips help future seniors reading this article or even current seniors who are applying to colleges through regular decisions. College application season is definitely the most stressful part of your senior year, but I promise that everything will be okay if you spread out each step of the process.