Recent Posts
- Are You Ready for Spirit Week 2024?!?! BY ISABELLA CAROLOW
- Extra Schoolwork During Advisory??? Perspectives from Students and Teachers on SAT Prep BY SAMUEL HIERS
- Embracing Perspective: Finding Beauty in the Ordinary and Extraordinary BY SAMANTHA MIGNANELLI
- The Taylor Swift “Thing” BY KEELY SULLIVAN
- CHS Renovations BY HAZEL DUROSS
Recent Comments
- Maureen Couture on Quality Education Comes in Many Forms BY Justin Curran
- Gwen Schumacher on Quality Education Comes in Many Forms BY Justin Curran
- chakal on How to Prepare for Final Exams BY Mrs. Murgida (from CHS Guidance)
- MAJ P. on The Healthy Benefits of Music that is Surely “Pop” for the Soul! BY Samuel Hiers
- MAJ P. on Planning for a Life in the U.S. Military BY Matthew Capwell
Archives
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- June 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- May 2021
- March 2021
- May 2020
- February 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- November 2014
- October 2014
Applying Like A Pro: Tips and Tricks to the College Application Process BY JUSTIN CURRAN
With my senior year underway, perhaps the biggest obstacle my fellow seniors and I face is the college application process, a process full of complications, career considerations, creativity, and lack of certainty. With this, I would like to share my experience, what has gone well and what hasn’t, and shed light on what I believe to be the best tips and tricks to the college application process as a whole.
With my senior year underway, perhaps the biggest obstacle my fellow seniors and I face is the college application process, a process full of complications, career considerations, creativity, and lack of certainty. With this, I would like to share my experience, what has gone well and what hasn’t, and shed light on what I believe to be the best tips and tricks to the college application process as a whole.
Tip #1: Start doing some research, it is helpful to start thinking about college applications before senior year starts, either during junior year or over the summer. The Common App rolls out every August 1, however, you can always ask teachers for letters of recommendation ahead of time, you can think about your essays and colleges you want to go to, and plan everything out ahead of time.
As someone who takes school especially seriously, I was unaware of what the college application process would be like, which gave me a nervousness like no other in junior year. Luckily, over the summer, I stumbled upon a video mentioning “Common App”, the major website you will use for college applications. This led me to start my applications in July, the summer before senior year started. Due to this, I had all my personal information filled in, and I had even started my first rough draft of my personal essay. This led me to be ahead of the game so I had less stress about Common App during senior year, and more focus on recommendation letters, supplemental essays, academics, and just enjoying my last year of high school. I think my way of going about it was pretty effective, as I didn’t have to worry about entering in all my information about my parents, myself, my education, clubs, etc, aside from updating them, and it saved a lot of time during the school year by doing it during a time when I had nothing else to focus on anyway.
Tip #2: When asking teachers for letters of recommendation, it’s typically best to ask junior year teachers, as they know you best, however, if you have another teacher you feel knows you well, ask them! It’s best to ask towards the end of junior year, so they have more time to write the letter, but if you ask at the beginning of senior year that is okay, too!
Not everything went according to plan, for me unfortunately. One thing I was hoping to do during junior year was asking teachers for letters of recommendation. By asking junior year, the teachers would have tremendous time to write the letters, and, in addition, I wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that I forgot to ask. I already knew the teachers I was planning on asking, it was just about getting the asking done, which unfortunately never happened. Every time I planned on asking, something interrupted or distracted me, or I just got too nervous to go up to my teachers to ask them. Despite this, I was able to ask both of my teachers this year, and both essays letters were finished before Thanksgiving break!
Tip #3: When writing your essays, whether they be your personal essay or supplemental essays for specific colleges, make them personal to you.
The essay portion of the application process can typically be the most difficult for many people, and I, myself, struggled to find ideas at times. Oftentimes, it’s safest to think about the prompt, and personalize it to you. I personally had six supplemental essays to write plus the personal essay, and I finished in a pretty reasonable time period because I related many aspects of my essays to my personality, rather than trying to be over the top to the point where my essays seemed to have a forced and fake message. Colleges want to see what makes you special in your essay, what sets you apart from the others, so it’s important to think about what is important to you, what makes you special, and highlight these aspects in your essays! I’m personally a huge hockey fan and I love culture and writing, and so I made sure that my essays reflected that while also showing my intelligence and dedication to my work. I connected the themes of my hobbies to the prompt and brought the essay to life with this. For example, one of my essays asked me why I was excited for their school, and so I made a hockey reference and connected it to how the school’s various programs and plentiful opportunities, resources, and options will help me “score” in everything I do. Doing things like this shows my personality of a hockey fan and a lover of hockey puns while also showing how I’m intrigued by their different resources. Do your best, the essays can be a lot, but you can do it!
Tip #4: If you’re not fully confident about what you would like to do after high school, THAT IS OKAY! Senior year and college can be a great time for discovery, and believe me, you got this!
This is actually ironic for me, but for years I wanted to be a teacher, even in kindergarten I was telling my family and teachers that I was going to be a teacher when I grow up. It’s been my dream pretty much my entire life. I even wrote about my internship in my entry for you all last month. Well, while I thoroughly adore the education field, and consider it a significant passion of mine, I have found an even greater passion in another field. What is that field? Journalism. While I have dedicated my entire life to education, taking the Education Studies pathway here at CHS, I have done lots of digging and lots of reflection, and believe that journalism would not only benefit me better, but I would enjoy it a lot more. Years past, I never imagined myself saying that, but I’ve found such passion in writing, whether it be about myself or other topics. Since the start of senior year, I wrote my six supplemental essays, and three different drafts for my personal essay, plus my three contributions to the Entry, and that is not even getting into English assignments and my own personal writing that I have started as a hobby. Now, I’m certainly not ditching the education field, both options are being considered, but I have decided to place a priority on journalism. I spent some time looking at the schools I’m applying to and have made CommonApp adjustments based on that, and in addition made some essay adjustments. I will be honest, suddenly deciding to change majors weeks before I’m submitting my applications is quite stressful, however, I’m going about it with an open mind. I love writing, and I am so excited for the road ahead. If I can do it, so can you!
Tip #5: Do some research and visit some colleges! Make sure you really want to commit the next few years to that school!
Since I am unable to drive (YET!), I did not take the opportunity to visit any colleges, however, I did do an extensive amount of research on colleges before coming up with my list. When creating your list of colleges to apply to, your best bet is a number between 5 and 8, however if you are outside of that range, that is just as valid, it is completely situational! For me, the location was big. Being as I don’t like the heat, and I just adore New England, I wanted to stay pretty local, but I knew right away that I wanted to go to school in the city, in hopes to gain new experiences. I narrowed myself down to colleges in Providence and Boston, as these are childhood cities for me that I hope I can explore more, and get to know better. I also had to look at the likelihood of getting in. Of course, there are some schools with extremely low acceptance rates, and one of my schools that I’m applying to, Brown University, is one of those types of schools. If there is a school that you really want to go to like that, it isn’t a bad idea to apply, especially if your resume looks pretty appealing. Generally, though, you do want to make sure you have a safety school or two that you can rely on, just in case your dreams don’t exactly pan out. I personally am applying to five schools, Brown University, Boston University, Boston College, Providence College, and Rhode Island College. While my hope is to attend Boston University, and Brown would be a dream, the other three were schools I was interested in as well, PC and RIC being my safeties if I get denied from my top 3. Like me, it is important to have a plan for any type of scenario that may happen when your applications are received by the colleges.
Tip #6: Keep track of everything that needs to be done and when. It gets stressful and annoying, but you can do it!
I didn’t even touch base on financial aid and scholarships, but those are just as important to go through, and when senior year starts, you should certainly jump on the opportunity of doing research on those and find out the deadlines for those as well. The FAFSA forms usually are able to be completed starting in October, and you should start those ASAP. You should also make sure that when you do decide on which colleges you want to apply to, keep up with their deadlines. Some colleges will allow you to apply early, whether that be Early Decision, a pathway for someone dedicated to a specific school, or Early Action, a pathway people may take if they want to get applications done ahead of time. These deadlines typically will be around early November, but can be as late as mid December. If that isn’t your type of deal and you need more time, like I did, Regular Decision for many schools ranges around Early January after Christmas break. Despite the fact that I am applying Regular Decision to all my schools, as I was not mentally or literally ready for Early Decision, I am submitting my applications as I am writing this, and am hoping to be accepted into the College of Communication at Boston University to major in journalism!
The college application process can be quite stressful at times, believe me, but every senior is going through it at the same time. You are never alone, and if necessary there are many people you can talk to, whether it be friends, family, teachers, or our amazing guidance counselors who can assist you in your journey. It is extremely exciting to take the next step, and I can’t wait to continue my journey in college very soon!!