Welcome to Part 1 of A Guide Through the College Application Process. Here, we will be covering all the aspects of the application process we believe you should complete BEFORE starting your actual application. This includes building a college list, finding your general interests, understanding application deadlines, approaching your recommenders, and standardized testing. We highly recommend that these parts of the college process are completed over the summer to help your future self with time management and stress.
Building a College List
Each school you apply to will fall under one of three categories: Reach, Target, and Safety Schools. It is highly recommended that your list includes schools that fall into all three of these categories.
Reach Schools: Reach schools are those schools that are on the top of your list of desired schools but may be difficult to get into. There can be two reasons for this. First, your credentials (GPA, SAT/ACT Score) may be below the college’s averages for the applicants they do admit. Second, there are the colleges no one is likely to get into. This includes Ivy League schools and Ivy-Like schools (MIT, Stanford, Oxford, etc.). Most of these schools have less than a 10% acceptance rate, making it hard for anyone to get in.
Why you should still apply to these schools: Do not be discouraged by lower acceptance rates, you never know what can happen! It is always worth aiming high because you never want to wonder “what if” later. Remember that even if your scores are lower, you can still prove yourself through essays and extracurricular involvement.
Target Schools: Target schools are those schools that you have a pretty good shot at getting into. Your GPA and test scores fall within the ranges the college generally seeks, which increases your chances of being accepted. However, you cannot guarantee acceptance into these schools.
Why you should apply to these schools: These schools may not be your “dream” schools (like the ones under your reach categories), but they are still schools you would be immensely happy attending. These schools are a great option and have a lot to offer.
Safety Schools: Safety schools are those schools for which you believe you have a very high chance of acceptance. Generally, your GPA and test scores are well above the range of scores for their admitted applicants. You can be reasonably certain that you will be accepted to a safety school.
Why you should apply to these schools: If you are certain you would like to attend college the following year (as opposed to entering the workforce after college), applying to safety schools is a great way to ensure you can do that.
You want to make sure you are applying to a minimum of 5 schools and a maximum of 12-15 schools, but the exact number varies from person-to-person. Do NOT go overboard. (This is coming from someone who did go overboard.) While you may be inclined to apply to more schools to increase chances of admission, you want to make sure you enjoy the prospect of attending each school you apply to. As a general rule of thumb, you want to apply to 2-3 safety schools, 3-4 target schools, and 2-3 reach schools. If you end up applying to more than 10 schools, it’s recommended that you apply to more target and reach schools as opposed to safety schools.
Find Your General Interests
Some of you may have a very clear interest in certain disciplines, majors, or careers. If this is you, amazing! When looking into colleges, be sure to apply to schools that specialize in what you are interested in.
Some of you may not know what you are interested in—that is completely fine! Try to apply to colleges that have good programs for many majors so that you have the freedom to explore. Many people go into college having no idea what they want to study and schools purposely do not require students to commit to a major until junior year, so don’t worry! When applying, many colleges allow you to mark your intended major as “undecided,” but we highly recommend you put down a major you are potentially interested in studying.
Understanding Application Deadlines
There are numerous types of applications that colleges offer. For all of the schools you apply to, make sure you know what type of application you are submitting so you don’t fall behind.
Rolling Admissions: A type of admission process that allows students to apply to an institution within a large window of time. As applications come in, college admission offices will review the application and respond to you as soon as they can about your admission status.
Early Action (EA): A type of early admission process that allows students to apply to their college early (generally November instead of January) to hear a response earlier. These responses from the institution can come at any time between December - February and will always come in earlier than they would for regular decision applications.
Restrictive Early Action (REA): A type of early admission process that functions the same as Early Action, except that is the only private school you are allowed to apply to for Early Action (you can still apply to public schools EA). This indicates to the school that you are their number one choice and can increase your chances of acceptance. Unlike ED, it is non-binding. Some schools that offer REA are Boston College, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.
Early Decision (ED): A type of early admission process that requires a student to attend the school if accepted. Applicants generally apply in November and hear back in December. Applying as an Early Decision applicant indicates to a school that you are fully committed to the school and that you will attend even if you get into other schools. The acceptance rate for ED is often higher than regular applicants which is why students would apply through this type of application. The only way to drop out of an ED agreement is if the financial aid package offered does not make attendance possible.
Early Decision II (ED II): A type of admission process that functions the same as Early Decision, except deadlines are typically in January. This allows colleges to improve their yield rates and allows students the flexibility of a later deadline, while still reaping the benefits of higher acceptance rates. Many students apply ED II to institutions if they have a clear second choice school after applying to their first choice school for ED.
Regular Decision: This is the most common type of admission process. Students generally apply around January and hear back from schools no later than April 1st. It is non-binding, meaning that if you are accepted, you are not required to attend the school.
Recommenders
The majority of colleges require you to submit a counselor recommendation and at least one teacher recommendation, with many colleges requiring you to submit two teacher recommendations. Make sure to ask for these recommendations as early as possible! The earlier you ask, the more likely they are to say yes (in case they receive a lot of recommendation requests), and the more time they will have to write you a strong recommendation.
Counselor Recommendations: Unlike other recommendations, you generally do not need to specifically ask counselors to write a recommendation letter for you—they already know to do it. Generally, counselors are also writing recommendation letters for dozens of other students, so make sure to build a relationship with your counselor! By doing this, they may be able to add a personal touch to your recommendation, rather than just using the information you provided to them.
Teacher Recommendations: Who you ask matters. First, it is highly recommended that both teachers are academic (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, or Foreign Language) and that taught you in 11th grade (in some case 10th grade is fine as well). If possible, try to ask one humanities teacher and one STEM teacher so that colleges can see how you are as a student in different classroom environments.
Additional Recommendations: If you believe your application would benefit from providing a recommendation from another teacher or mentor (art teachers, extracurricular advisors, managers at work, etc.) feel free to submit those as well. However, do not submit more than 2 additional recommendations per college—it can become repetitive and take away from the rest of your application.
Brag Sheets: For every recommender, you want to create a “brag sheet,” which includes extensive information about what you’ve done in high school and what you would like them to talk about in their letter of recommendation. Listed below are some guiding prompts to include on your brag sheet, feel free to edit/adapt this to fit your own sheets.
What To Include In All Brag Sheets
List your activities in school and in the community (sports, clubs, community groups). Include the grades you participated in.
List paid work experiences and/or volunteer experiences (indicate which were paid and which were a volunteer)
List any leadership roles in and out of school.
List awards and honors earned, both in and out of school.
Strengths you believe you have.
Areas you would like to improve.
List five adjectives that you, your family, and your friends would use to describe you.
Clearly state your future goals. What career or major might you pursue?
What do you think should be stressed in a letter of recommendation/any other piece of information about you that can give the recommender a full picture of who you are?
Additional Information for Counselor Brag Sheets
Describe a rewarding or satisfying learning experience you had at school.
How do you think you have contributed to the school community in your years there?
Give an example of when you have been creative or a time when you had to overcome an obstacle.
Describe any special circumstances that affected your academic performance. Explain how you were affected academically. Explain how you manage your situation. (This question allows your counselor to explain if your academic performance was affected by a special circumstance.)
Additional Information for Teacher Brag Sheets
Why did you like this teacher’s class?
What are your favorite memories from class?
How are you different from the rest of your peers?
Standardized Testing
Testing scores have traditionally had significant weight on a student’s admission to college. Due to the pandemic that prevents millions of students from testing, many colleges are now test-optional. However, we still included this section in case students still need testing advice.
Score Reports: Check if your colleges require you to submit official reports of your scores. If they do, submit these reports at least two weeks before the application submission deadline! These score reports include the ACT, SAT, SAT Subject Tests, and AP Scores.
Submitting SAT vs. ACT: Lots of people take both the SAT and ACT, so how do you know which one to submit?
Look at Conversions: There are many charts online that will allow you to compare you SAT and ACT score to each other, like this one. If you notice one of your scores is higher than the other, submit that score.
Superscores: Sometimes colleges will superscore the tests, meaning they will combine the best sections from each time you took the test. For example, if you took the SAT twice, scoring a 1450 the first time (English: 680, Math: 770) and 1480 the second time (English: 740, Math: 740), your superscore would be 1510, adding together your highest English and Math Scores. If, in step 1, you found that both your scores were roughly the same, research if any colleges on your list superscore the tests. If they do, ask yourself which of you superscored tests are higher.
Case-by-Case Basis: If steps 1 and 2 both still produce similar scores and you’re not sure which to send, there are two options. First, you can send both scores to your schools. Second (which helps you avoid paying additional score report fees), look at your colleges’ score ranges, which show the middle 50%. For each college, determine where you fall for each school, and submit the score where that has you fall higher on the spectrum.
Go With Your Gut: If all else fails, go with your gut. Sometimes you just feel better about one score, and so we recommend submitting that score. Your test score is only one part of this multifaceted application, it will not make or break your chances.
SAT Subject Tests: While most colleges do not require you to submit subject tests, submitting these scores can help show your expertise in a certain field. Most subject test content is taught in AP courses, so it’s recommended that you take subject tests shortly after you have taken the AP exam so that the information is most fresh in your mind. All subject tests are scored on a scale of 800. We recommend that you do not submit the subject test score unless you receive above a 700, but aim for a score of 750 or above. Submitting scores lower than 700 can potentially hurt your application as they do not show a mastery of the subject.
AP Scores: There are very few colleges that require applicants to submit AP exam scores, but submitting AP scores can show mastery in a subject and that you are capable of handling college-level courses. However, you should only submit scores for AP tests you received 4s and 5s on. There’s nothing wrong with omitting lower scores; it’s better to only show your higher scores rather than submitting everything and risking the lower scores having a negative impact on your application.
Make A Spreadsheet
Choosing colleges to apply to requires time, patience, and research. We highly recommend creating a spreadsheet that includes important application details. Some key information to include in the spreadsheet: college name, application deadlines, the major you would apply for, college location, number of students, public/private school, safety/target/reach school, testing requirements, tuition costs, room and board costs, the total cost of attendance without aid, number of recommendations required, supplemental essay prompts and anything else that will help you organize the colleges you are applying to.
Here’s a sample spreadsheet with all the information listed, feel free to make a copy and adapt it to your college list!
We hope this guide provided more clarity on the college application journey ahead. You are fully capable of thriving throughout this process and we at Application Overload are here to make sure that you have the tools, tips, and tricks to do so. Do not hesitate to email us with questions or concerns: applicationoverloadblog@gmail.com.
Click here for the second part of this three-part series: A Guide Through the College Application Process (Part 2 of 3): Tips and Tricks to Know While You Are Applying.
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