University Bound: Scarsdale College Counselor Gives Tips on Application Process

Spring semester of junior year in high school can mean one thing and one thing only for the college bound — the start (though preferably the continuation) of preparing for the application process.   

What should you be doing? Plenty.

You’ve probably already started, but be sure to take as many AP exams as is reasonably possible — they not only look great on your application, but they also allow you more freedom in college. How so? You may be able to graduate early. Want to savor every last minute of college? AP credits can still help in two important ways. First, you will have more flexibility when choosing courses because your AP credits may count as required courses. 

Second, even if the credits are applied to general credits and not specific courses, you may choose to take a lighter schedule in terms of credits during those college semesters when you are taking a grueling course that requires a disproportionate amount of your time. Planning now may make your college senior year (yes, I’m thinking that far ahead) much more enjoyable. 

It is also time to continue (or start) planning for your college entrance exams (SATs/ACTs).  ou may end up applying to schools that don’t require them, but unless you want to restrict your search to only those schools, you hopefully, know when the tests are and, ideally, are already scheduled to take them.  

You should also make an appointment to meet with your high school guidance counselor to discuss your senior year schedule. Be sure to ask your counselor to review your past courses to make sure that you have been taking the minimum number of courses in particular fields to meet college admissions requirements. 

Many people think that junior year is the last year to show who they are to colleges, but this isn’t true at all. Your senior schedule and performance will be seriously considered by college admissions committees, so be sure to keep up your grades. 

In thinking about next year’s courses, take the most difficult courses you can handle. Many college admissions counselors recommend this because colleges like to see you challenging yourself. I don’t disagree with this, but I am also making this recommendation because challenging yourself now will better prepare you for your college-level courses, both in terms of the actual content of the courses and also in terms of managing your time. 

You may also want to talk with your counselor about potential career interests.  You needn’t know “what you want to do when you grow up,” but now is a wonderful time to explore courses in areas you think you may want to pursue.  

In terms of your current semester, in addition to making sure you keep up your grades (or increase them), make sure that you begin to or continue to develop relationships with your teachers. In order for them to write strong letters of recommendation, they need to get to know more than your grades. As a professor, I used to tell my students that they will have done well in my classes, in terms of doing more than just showing up for classes and submitting work, if by the end of the semester, I could write a 5-page letter of recommendation for them.

Yes, 5-page letters are not the norm, but I found that I had students who earned As, but for whom I could say little, and students who earned Cs, but for whom I could advocate because I knew more than simply their grades. If I was able to write a 5-page letter, then my students had allowed me to get to know them well. 

Few people invest in writing letters of recommendation the way I do (I’ve received calls from colleges and employers who called just to comment on the strength of my letters and how I helped set the person apart from other applicants!), so be sure you make things as easy for your teachers as possible by helping them get to know you. Next fall, when it is time for you to begin requesting letters, I’ll write an article about how to obtain strong ones, but for now, do what you can to help teachers (employers/coaches) get to know you well. Letters really do sometimes make the difference in whether you receive a letter of admissions or not.  

Most juniors have a general sense of at least a handful of schools they want to consider. The list usually comes from knowing others who have attended the school, its geography or its name. Although these are great ways to begin thinking about schools, they should only be a very first step in finding the right school for you.

A big part of what I do is akin to being a matchmaker. Although people sometimes fall in love and marry the first person they date and have a happily- ever-after tale, this is rare.  Most people date lots of others — with or without the help of matchmakers — before finding the mate that is right for them.  Finding the college that is right for you requires the same sort of searching.  You may find that the very first college you consider is right for you, but more likely, you will need to consider many other options and “date them” by researching them. 

I always recommend that people cast a broad net as they begin their search.  In time, the list will be narrowed, but don’t limit your options just yet. Related to this, I believe that the process of searching for the right college has the potential for you to learn a considerable amount about yourself and for you to grow and stretch in ways you may not have anticipated. By limiting your choices early on, you limit your opportunities for greater self knowledge and growth. 

Visiting college fairs can help introduce you to schools you don’t yet know much about.  As you develop your list, start visiting schools.  Try to visit on days when schools are in session so that you can get a feel for the campus and maybe sit in on a class or two.

I’ll say more about visiting colleges in an upcoming article, but for now, be sure to start visiting them so that you can get a feel for what you like and don’t like about large/small/public/private schools. In fact, visit nearby schools — even if they aren’t ones you are considering — to help you get a feel for what you like and dislike. 

Part of the process of developing your list involves getting on the mailing lists of schools. In order to simplify your life, decide how you will communicate with them and how you will manage the overwhelming amount of information you receive. I recommend you create a large folder where you and whoever gets the mail places everything before you even have a chance to review it and then another one for those schools that make the initial cut. 

You’ll create more folders as you move along in the process, but for now, two should be sufficient. Think also about email communication with schools.  Some people like correspondence from colleges (there will be tons!) to come to their regular email account, while others prefer to create a separate account. If you opt for the separate account, be sure to check it at least every two weeks (daily during senior year, since you may get requests for information or be informed of deadlines). 

No matter what option you choose, make sure that your email address is professional. If it isn’t your name or initials and speaks more to your personality, make sure that your personality projects something along the lines of “booklover123” or “futuremd,” and not “hotstuff” or “partyanimal.”  You are looking to make a positive impression, and “partyanimal@redsolocup.com” will negatively impact the application you worked so hard to create by earning a 3.9, volunteering weekly and writing a most amazing essay. So be smart about the email address you choose to use. 

Similarly, you will begin to receive telephone calls from colleges. Your voicemail should project a more serious tone than, "Sorry I can’t get to the phone right now, but I’ll call you when I’m less hungover." Lastly, if you choose to “like” schools on Facebook (or other social networking sites), make sure that your pages are presentable for the larger public to see. Yes, I’m sure all of this is quite obvious, but you would be surprised by the number of inappropriate emails, telephone voicemail messages and Facebook pages I come across that belong to students applying to schools or jobs. 

Now is also the time to begin thinking about your summer plans. Don’t plan on just hanging out and relaxing before your very busy senior year. Think about whether you want to spend your summer volunteering or working or interning or enrolling in academic special programs. 

Also, think very carefully about investing time to work on your college applications this summer. I work with most of my students on their applications during the summer (they have more time) so their fall semesters of senior year are far less stressful. And trust me when I tell you that as much as they may resent working with me during the summer, they are tremendously grateful during the fall when they are trying to prepare to retake their SATs, struggling with a senior level course or two, seeing how their peers are going crazy trying to balance everything, trying to find the time to enjoy their senior year or, more likely, or all/some of the above.  So plan on tackling at least a big chunk of your applications during the summer.

This is also a very important time to begin talking with your parents/guardians—  if you haven’t already — about your plans for college.  his includes talking about finances.  I know that some families are more comfortable than others talking openly about finances, but it’s important that you do so. You need to know if your parents/guardians will be contributing towards your education and, if so, how much.

Do they expect you to work through school? Empty your savings? Apply for scholarships? Whatever the expectations are, everyone should speak openly about them. Keep in mind, though, that most people do not pay the tuition “sticker price,” so don’t limit your prospective college list by looking at the cost. 

Related to this, although some schools may be very expensive, they may provide excellent aid, which in the end, results in you paying less than you would have to attend a public school. So, at the risk of beating a dead horse, don’t limit your options just yet. In any case, don’t delay the family conversation. 

As part of the conversation, you may want to talk about whether or not hiring a college admissions counselor (me or someone else) for part or all of the process makes sense for you in terms of your needs and finances. If you or your parents don’t understand what we do or don’t know how to go about hiring someone, feel free to contact me. I won’t provide a sales pitch, but I can provide you with an overview of what we do, give you guidance in thinking about how to find someone with the right skill sets for what you need (after all, if you are investing your time and money, you don’t want to hire someone who is under or over qualified for your needs), and even provide you with a sense, given your situation, of whether or not it makes sense to continue thinking about hiring someone. 

Now is the time, though, if you think you might want to work with someone, to start moving in that direction. College counselors can be a tremendous help during this time, but most of us limit the number of people we are willing to work with. Unless you get someone who saves a space or two for people who comes “late in the game,” you may end up unable to find someone to work with or may end up working with someone who doesn’t have the skill set you need.   

Although there are other things I could discuss, more important than them is that it is critical that you create a plan and stay organized.  Some people compare this process to a marathon — it is long, and you need to build the skills and stamina to finish. Planning and organization are your friends. Plan a monthly schedule that lays out your plan — when you will work on your application, visit schools, test dates, school and scholarship deadlines and so on.  It may be fairly empty now, but as you gather more information, it will begin to fill up.  

Yes, this is a busy time for you, and it may seem overwhelming, but by approaching the task that is ahead of you in a smart and systematic way, you will not only survive, but you will thrive.   

About Lenora de la Luna:

I am an educational consultant living in Scarsdale and working with families in the tri-state area as a college admissions counselor and tutor and working with teachers and schools to better children’s educational experiences.  Please write to succeed@learn2love2learn.com with questions about college admissions for inclusion in “College Bound:  Qs & As about High School and College Admissions.” Although my blog focuses on college admissions, I love talking shop, so feel free to contact me at the above address or at 917.456.6056 if you have any educationally-related questions.