hi everyone !!!! i’m a rising freshman at college/uni and thinking back on the college apps process i realized that i learned a lot that i would like to share !! i was successful with my college apps so im hoping i can give good advice✨
want to see more of this series? click here for the rest of the posts !!
organizing ur schools
alright so now u know what you want in a school and have some schools on ur list time to organize them !
the super prepared way
this was uhh not at all me but if you are some one who likes to be organized here are some things you can do !
spreadsheets - this is the most common way i’ve seen! using excel or google docs allows you to have all ur schools in one place and it allows you to compare the different factors that youve identified as most or least important. additionally, it is useful to easily see which schools are closer to you stat-wise through the various methods of color coding that excel has
@appsademia has an excel sheet here that you can use
@thestudyaesthetic has another spreadsheet idea here
@science-is-golden has a college application checklist that’s super clean and organized - a good resource for organizing the important info for your applications (such as deadlines, acceptance rate, and other requirements) (original post)
good ol’ notebooks - super easy way to store key info about colleges and that way u can basically pick any kind of layout that fits your needs. get a new notebook and make a section for each school you’ve considered with all the key factors (dont forget to include deadlines !) also a good resource to make more of a timeline rather than just info
printables - similar to using a notebook, but layouts are already designed for you
organizer from us news - also includes other sheets for campus tours and a general checklist
plain and simple printable from popdox on esty - includes information that might be overlooked (like what ap credits schools with accept)
less detailed organizer from seekingthesouth blog so it’s good if u just want to get to the point
@studenting has printables that include a sheet for organizing info, checklists, and writing supplements
the lazy student way
if ur like me and didnt care enough to make fancy spreadsheets like the rest of your friends have no fear you can still be on top of everything! the number one thing to do is enter every college ur considering into ur common app (even if youre still not sure about a school and might delete it later). the common app dashboard will easily display the application deadlines, if supplements are required, how many letters of rec, etc. for all the schools. additionally, you can save schools on collegeboard which will allow for easy access of a school’s statistics. this is p much all i did and i didnt have problems keeping deadlines or other requirements straight
ranking your schools
now that you have your schools and you’ve gathered all the information about them, it’s time to make a list ranking your schools. this where you decide what schools could be right for you and what schools you should take off your list. while i didnt do this, i have seen many people rank the various factors for each school on a scale of one to ten and add up the points (make sure to include costs in this !!) you’ll want to view your schools critically and determine if you really want to attend a school or if you’re just applying due to external pressures (such as prestige or because your parents want you to). another factor that can help determine if you should apply to a school is a campus tour. on paper, a school might sound like it could be your dream school however you might completely hate it once you visit. the vibe a school gives off can be something that’s hard to describe but it is an important influence in deciding what is right for you - i will cover campus tours more in-depth in my next post
determining safety/match/reach schools
a super important step in ur college application journey !!! you need to make sure that you have a balance of schools (or hope that u dont fall in love with any reach schools lol) to ensure that you’ll end up at a school that you will be happy and successful in
safety - these are schools that you have confidence in and are almost certain that you will get into. your safety schools should have acceptance rates >60% and generally your stats (gpa/test scores) should be better than than the average stats of accepted students. your safety school should also include price !! if you cant afford it then its not a safety school since u might get into a reach school and then realize you cant attend to due cost. this is also super important but make sure you actually like your safety school. i cannot stress this enough too many times have i seen people apply to schools that they dont care about just so they have a safety school. while it doesnt need to be your number one choice, you never know what will happen in the admissions process and it /could/ end up as your only choice so make it a good one !!
match - these are schools that fall right in the middle. match schools have acceptance rates between 40%-60% and your stats should fall in line with the average stats, but they still could be slightly less.
reach - these are the schools w/ crapshoot admissions. doesn’t matter what your stats are, it’s always going to be up in the air if you have a chance a getting in or not. these schools have acceptance rates >40% and they could have stats where u match with the average stats or the average stats could be higher than yours. this category also includes schools that are out of your price range
lots of people wonder what the right number of schools to have is and tbh there is no real answer to this? you should definitely have at least one safety though !! and in general, you really shouldn’t have 10+ schools. i know i cant stop you or tell you what to do but if you have that many, then you probably haven’t put a lot of research into your schools and have found the ones that will be the best fit for you (i personally applied to 5 schools). additionally, application costs can be $70 and several schools have extra essays so that’s a lot of extra effort and money that you do not need to spend.
that about covers everything for creating the perfect college list ! if you still have questions please send me an ask !!!! i already mentioned this, but my next post will cover campus tours (my personal fave tbh) so please check back soon for that post!
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hi everyone !!!! i’m a rising freshman at college/uni and thinking back on the college apps process i realized that i learned a lot that i would like to share !! i was successful with my college apps so im hoping i can give good advice✨
want to see more of this series? click here for the rest of the posts !!
the basics
tbh i personally loved going on campus tours !!! i think they are a very important aspect of the application process and shouldn’t be overlooked. a campus tour can easily make or break ur college list. additionally, if it wasn’t for campus tours, i would’ve never found the ~perfect~ school 4 me
scheduling - a lot of posts abt tours i’ve seen say to try and go when class is in schedule to get the campus vibe but tbh even if u go during the summer u can still get a good feel of what the school is gonna be like i only did my tours over the summer and u can still get a rly good feel based on the campus itself and the small number of students are there !
info sessions - if an info session is offered before the tour then please try and go to it ! they provide some of the basics about a school and often have a small q&a session with the admissions officer running it
the tour itself - if you can hang around the front of the group. this will allow you to hear better, easily ask questions, and possibly overhear someone else asking a question that you might not of thought of. just trying not to constantly invade your guide’s personal space or bombard them with so many questions that they can’t give anyone else attention
ask for what you want to see - idk whose idea this was but so many tours that i went on did not show a classroom which makes no sense since you are here to learn. if you do not visit a classroom or any other facility you would like to see (for me, i made sure to visit the main libraries), then ask after the tour if you can see one! i rly did not have a problem with this and most people told me where there were open buildings where classrooms could be seen. just remember that you still might not be able to visit certain locations as most university buildings only allow students to enter (it never hurts to ask)
with this being said, pay attention on tours for classrooms. while the tour might not stop in one, there’s a good chance you could walk by one so peak through the windows (if their isnt a class in session there - dont be creepy) so you can get a feel for what they look like.
why you should go - as long as time/money permit, then you should visit every college you can. like i already mentioned (and will explain later in this post), a campus tour can help decide if a school is truly right for you. going on a campus tour also shows demonstrated interest in school which can only be a positive when it comes to applying. the school will have on record that you visited there and then you automatically end up on their mailing lists (if you can’t visit make sure u sign up for the mailing list for this same reason). even if u have unofficially gone to a school hundreds of times do a campus tour
note taking
i didn’t actually see a whole lot of other students taking notes but i felt it was important in remembering details about the school and to gather information (if needed) for the why X school essay. i had a small notebook that i would write the important things from the info sessions, the feel/look of the campus itself, the vibe other students gave, the way the dorms/classrooms/cafeteria/library looked, answers to any questions i asked, or whatever else i felt was important. just remember to give your tour guide respect and pay attention to them more than your notebook
as you can see i took note taking very seriously
asking questions
this is super important as it’s the best time to understand what a school is like from an actual student. while they are there to sell u a school, they’re still gonna be more honest then info pamphlets
questions to ask
what made u choose X school among others?
this question is so !!! important !!!! i think this can help you grasp what kind of student fits w/ a particular school. if you end up with a tour guide who gives an insightful response, it can help reveal the values of both the school and the students. if u are like me and didnt have any top picks in mind beforehand or didnt rly know what you want in a school this can be helpful in understanding why people have their top choices and why they feel attachment to a certain school. additionally, if you are torn between two (or more!) schools when it comes to decision time, this can help u determine which school will be a better fit.
however, in my experience, many students tend to respond to this “i just had the right feeling when i visited the school” or some variation of this so you might not always get the best answer but try to get them to elaborate a bit more. for example, one of my tour guides was from london so i asked her why she wanted to go to school in america and what made her choose this school over other american colleges. while it’s not directly asking why X school i was able to get a more detailed answer to this question !
what are some unique traditions that X school has?
this ties into the previous question as it involves reasons for selecting one school over another but the main reason to ask this is for the “why X school” essay (i’ll talk about how to do these in a later post). not every school will have this extra essay, but many do so it’s important to be prepared ! this will give you content that’s more in depth and shows that you did research on the school
what’s the student body like?
are they super involved in service/volunteering? do sports function as the main social events? are people quiet and chill or major partiers?
while i talked about this in my post about researching schools, now is the best time to understand the ~vibe~ a school as. you should also observe other students around you and see what they are doing. you don’t need to ask the specific questions/similar ones that i listed, but make sure you get a general idea ! (unless of course you want to ask specifically about these things)
specific programs for your major
if you know what you would like to study, then ask questions about their specific program. (i did not know what i wanted to study, so i didnt ask these kinds of questions and unfortunately can’t offer much advice on how to ask)
ask about your tour guide’s major
if your major is not their major, they might not be able to provide much information outside of the general facts about it but ask about their major(s) ! i’m sure they’ll be glad to talk about what they are studying and it can give you a feel how the academics work in general about the school (especially if your major is within the same college/school @ the university b/c policies and whatnot will be very similar.)
@studywithanu has a guide on asking questions on campus tours written from their perpsective as a tour guide please check it out !
questions to NOT ask
i can’t speak for tour guides on what they find annoying and what they don’t but just on the few campus tours that i went on i heard so much of the same bullshit questions (not trying to be harsh but some of it got to me). who knows, maybe some of these questions are only bad in my opinion but honestly i felt people could be using their time to ask better questions
what’s the difference between early action/early decision?
pal not to be rude but if u dont know this at this point then one props to u for not being completely obsessed with the college apps process as i was and two u have access to google.....it’s right there
but in seriousness, why waste your time on a generic question that can be easily found out and isn’t specific to the school you’re visiting ?? the purpose of the tour is to learn about one school not the application terminology. it amazed me how many different people i heard ask this
in case if u don’t know what the difference is i’m gonna tell u right here cause im feeling nice !
early decision - this is binding folks ! only apply ED if ur sure that your school is ur number one choice and you can’t picture yourself anywhere else and you’ll die if you dont go here. also u need to be able to afford it. the only way u can be let go of ur agreement is if the financial aid offered to you is too low (like way too low) and the cost will prevent you from attending college that’s it ! you can’t change ur mind b/c you think you like somewhere else better or somewhere else gave u larger scholarship. additionally, you submit your application (often november) earlier and find out about ur admissions status earlier (often december). note: some schools have ED II which basically is still ED, but you submit ur application at the same time as regular decision and you hear back earlier (normally february)
early action - non-binding ! apply to as many schools EA if you want. like ED, the application process is completed earlier and you are notified of ur status earlier too. unlike ED, you are not bound to any EA school and can wait to accept or decline until their deadline (may 1st is the majority for most universities). sometimes, a school’s EA might have a greater acceptance rate due the lower amount of students but the competition might be stronger so keep that in mind ! note: there are some schools w/ restrictive EA meaning you can only apply to that school EA and no others (you are not bound to admissions tho) this is most common in the ivies and generally you won’t come across it much.
what’s the average gpa/sat/act scores or what’s the acceptance rate?
again, why waste ur time on facts that can be easily googled and were most likely presented to you in the information session
this will make you seem uninformed and ill-prepared, which we don’t want. ask the best questions you possibly can !
how did you get in/what did u do in hs/what were ur grades
while i (thank god) never encountered this on a tour, i do know people can be very upfront with asking other studyblrs/appblrs these questions - maybe it’s just due to the anonymous feature on here but sometimes people are quite rude about asking these kind of questions
while i do not think asking someone with a study/appblr what their activities in high school is bad (as we are here to discuss these kind of things), the question “how did you get in to X school” needs to stop getting asked in general b/c guess what - none of us know which little detail of our applications made the admissions officer know you’d be the perfect fit for the school
instead try asking them about their current activities (gives you an insight on how the students are involved) and if they find the academics to be just the right level of challenging
anything that can be easily found on a school’s website
i know im basically repeating myself but if it can be found on the first few pages under the admissions section online or in any of their info pamphlets, then don’t ask it. it’s a waste of time - you want this tour to allow you to make an informed decision on if you should apply to this school. if you only go to learn stuff that you know is online (even if u dont know it off the top of ur head or haven’t looked it up yet) then what was the point of visiting at all ?
however, if you need more clarification about anything posted online (such as deadlines !) then ask away
is it right for me?
okay you’ve done all your research, visited all the schools on your list. now it’s time to ask are these schools right for me? should i apply here? there isn’t a right or wrong answer only you can determine if you should apply. since this is a bit more difficult to write clear-cut advice for here’s some examples from my personal experience
in case if you haven’t read my previous posts, the only factor i knew that i wanted out of a school was for it to be located in a big city, so all the schools i visited/applied to were in some major cities in the northeast. there was one school that i had high hopes for since it was located in the city but still had a traditional campus (hard factor to find in cities). however, upon traveling to this college, i discovered it’s on the outskirts of the city and a bit too far for my liking (i felt that if i attended i wouldn’t leave and explore the city daily, only on certain occasions if i felt like going out). additionally, i did not like the vibe the admissions officer that hosted the info session gave off. these two things were enough for me to say this is not the school for me, so after the info session my mom and i left and skipped the tour
when it came to the school that i will be attending, i only knew that it was my number one choice because of the campus tour. it was the last school i visited and while i had liked most of the schools i visited, i knew none of them were necessarily the “one” for me. they were all nice but my general reaction was just kind of okay i’ll still apply here onto the next school.... i hate that i can’t give a proper explanation as /why/ it was the right school (i always hated when my tour guides would say they picked their school based on a feeling), but yes i did have that feeling where i knew this was it. i could tell the students values aligned with mine, it was right in the city, it has an A+ study abroad program, strong academics, and more that i can’t put into words. if this doesn’t happen to you, do not be alarmed (tbh im surprised it happened to me) you don’t need to find the one for you to love your school. in fact, not having a dream school might be better b/c you can focus on your options logically and not get stuck on one school
a side note to this is my aunt always thought this one school was her top choice and that she had to go there but when she finally got a chance to visit, she absolutely hated it and later found a university that she loved (she still goes to football games regularly) don’t underestimate the campus tour !
can’t visit a school?
you still have several options to use even if you can’t visit somewhere (or even if u can these are still helpful)
virtual campus tours
youvisit - super neat campus simulation and some schools even have a virtual tour guide
campustours - also includes interactive maps
youtube channels
look for day in life vids, dorm tours, or any other content posted by students at the school + they’re gonna be more honest since it isn’t their job to sell u the school
school’s website/youtube
check the school website/youtube channel and see if they have maps or any kind of virtual tour
wow this was very lengthy so i rly hope this helps everyone ! if you have any other questions please feel free to send me an ask! my next post will cover basics to the common app so check back soon !
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