#appblr 2018

[emunhinged]

To high school seniors waiting for college decisions

I remember being in that same situation two years ago and can still recall all the emotions that I went through. Getting deferred/waitlisted/rejected from my dream schools was disheartening and I remember feeling very empty at the end of my senior year. To those going through the same feeling, I want to say that college is an experience that you have SO much control over. If you “end up” going to a state school, you have just as much potential to do incredible things, have unique experiences, find wonderful communities of people -- you just have to search for it. I go to a state school and have witnessed my peers do meaningful research, launch startups that have expanded abroad, get really cool internships, etc etc. My point is that if you “end up” going to your safety school then you can absolutely kill it there- the same way you would have at a top tier. You have the power to shape your college experience so after you commit yourself to a college start building that path. 

Good luck to everyone working on their applications in these final days, I wish you all the best <3 

[study-with-nina]

3.17.18 [34%] I’m still trying to continue the 100 days of productivity challenge, though I haven’t been posting the past few days...I swear I’m still being productive, I just don’t have any nice notes/etc. that I want to take pictures of (especially since a lot of my coursework is online) 😅

Anyway, here’s a shot of some calc notes and homework I’ve been working on! Yesterday, a friend of mine told me that my handwriting looks like a font which made me super happy bc I’m kinda insecure about it haha

Today I:

- Helped out at a St. Patty’s Day 5K event for Beta Club 🍀

I will:

- Finish my physics module

- Do my calc homework

- Tidy up my room

Currently reading: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas [FINISHED]

[gilmorestudies]

applying to college is so expensive and i wasted $13 sending scores to a school i decided not to apply to,,,the college app process is so gross

[historynote]

I have 5 more college apps to do. Kinda want to die and in need for essay readers. 

[perfectingpractice]

to all my friends submitting their early apps soon: best of luck! you’ve been working hard on these, and it’ll feel so good to let them go soon. waiting can be hard, but you’ve gotten over one of the hardest things in the whole process--submitting your first app. congratulations!!

[stuclyblrs]

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!

[katlearnslanguages]

my senior year hasn’t even started yet and I already want to set myself on fire

[carolinestudys]

12/08-did some late night studying in the harry potter library on this fine sunday night

[scholasticbabe]

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.

Neil Gaiman (via @scholasticbabe)

[studyblr]

me @ universities: all I want for Christmas is you

[studyspiration-coffee]

little organisation masterpost!!

video about an organisation system

using OneNote as a bullet journal

how organisation will get you better grades

pack of organisational printables

making a time management plan 

triaging your assignments

the work progress journal

how to keep everything organised

video on desk tour/organisation 

using google cal

video on planner vs bullet journal

guide to organisation for school

[emunhinged]

6 things I wish I had known before applying to college

1. Start your Common App AND supplemental essays now- senior year can be busier than you expect it to be, although I basically finished my common app essay over the summer I wish I had done some of my supplements as well

2. Colleges want to know what you can do for them- they know that they can do a lot for you, but what they’re really interested in is what you will contribute to the school, which will make you stand out in thousands of applications

2. Showcase your personal beliefs in your essay but if you can, relate them to what you want to pursue- of course there is no single “right way” to write your essays, but doing this really shows (rather than tells) a school why you are truly a good fit and what you can contribute to their community. It also makes a more cohesive story/ narrative. 

3. Group your supplements together- Take your college list, find the supplements for each school, and categorize them. Ex: “why x school essays, cultural essays, favorite extracurricular activity essays” this way you can most efficiently write one essay for multiple schools at once

4. Be smart about where you apply Early decision/ restrictive early action- think a lot about if this school is truly a good fit for you, if you can afford it, AND what are your chances of getting in. If you play your cards right you can end up at your top choice school early and enjoy the rest of senior year

5. Grades/ Numbers matter to a certain extent- of course they are important, but what I mean is that at really selective schools, every applicant has stellar numbers, and grades are no longer enough to differentiate between applicants. Instead, they are looking at your qualifications, experiences, and essays in order to gauge who would be a stronger applicant. I was very stressed about  staying in the top ten of my class but in retrospect I don’t think it made a HUGE difference in college applications.

6. CHECK YOUR SPAM EMAIL- I nearly missed an interview because the notification went to my spam email. It does happen, so check your spam regularly. 

Good luck to all of the rising seniors who are preparing their applications right now, I truly wish all of you the best and hope you go somewhere that will make you happy!!! Feel free to message me if you have questions :) 

[study-with-nina]

march studyblr challenge: day 1 ✨

I decided to start @wilstudies‘s march studyblr challenge to kick off the new month, so here goes! (hopefully i’ll remember to do this every day lol)

Day 1: Three goals for this month

1. Read 3 books

2. Work out 3 times a week

3. Pay my enrollment deposit for college (:

[gilmorestudies]

okay you guys know where columbia asks for books you enjoyed in the past year and stuff like that? it says list, so does it have to be in complete sentences? and do you have to explain why you enjoyed it if it doesnt necessarily ask you? please help i am confused and scared

[bohred-to-death]

Wednesday, June 6th, 2018 | 12:36 pm Well, folks, this gal finally graduated :,) It has been.. a horribly stressful 4 years... but I don’t think I would have done anything differently. I’m spending this week relaxing and reading tons of books (and I’ll be doing the same thing next week but at the beach!!) but after that, I’m right back to preparing for college! Also!! Congratulations to all of the other studyblrs that graduated!! SO PROUD of everyone!

[ccllege]

it’s almost 2018, and most of us are setting goals that we want to achieve throughout the course of the upcoming year. but how do we actually achieve those goals? it isn’t enough to just set them. studies have shown that it isn’t even enough to be motivated to achieve them. the key to achieving your goals lies in using both motivation and intention to keep yourself of track.

motivation: the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way

intention: an aim or plan

so, how do we use motivation and intention to achieve our goals?

1. set a broad goal. maybe you want to get in better shape, or learn a new language, or read more. for me, in 2018, i’d like to be accepted into a top law school. while of course the admissions committees at those law schools will be the ones to decide whether or not i’ll be accepted, there are things that i can do to help increase my chances of getting into a good law school. 

2. write down why you want to achieve that goal. this is where “motivation” comes in. i want to go to a top law school because BLANK. why do you want to achieve your goal? what will you get out of it? it’s good to be able to look back and see why you’ve set out to achieve your goal in the first place - it’ll motivate you!

3. list out the specific steps needed to achieve that goal. the goal “get in better shape” is very vague. how do you even start? write down a list of specific, small, actionable steps you can take that, together, will help you achieve your goal. for my goal of getting into a good law school, there are several things i’ll need to do. for example, i’ll need to get a high lsat score; to get a high lsat score, i’ll need to study for the test. i’ll also need good letters of recommendations; to get good letters of recommendation, i’ll need to develop better relationships will my professors. having a list of steps to take to achieve your goal will give you direction and make it more likely that you accomplish what you’ve set out to do.

4. write an intention statement for each of those steps. this is where “intention” comes in. for each of those specific steps you’ve outlined, also write down when and where you will do them. for example: “i will study for lsat every monday from 5pm-7pm in the library” or “i will go to my professor’s office hours to ask her questions about her research on tuesday”. studies have shown that if you have a plan for when and where you’ll complete your specific steps/goals, you’re much more likely to do them than if you don’t have a plan.

by following these goal setting steps, you can achieve your goals in 2018!