How to Get Ahead of College Applications
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The one truth all seniors can agree on is that college application season is tedious and time-consuming. Whether an upcoming senior is applying to 10 schools or 30, the workload is a lot, and it is easy to feel lost and overwhelmed. While there is no direct answer to how to get ahead of deadlines during the application process fully, there are a few personal goals that you can set to help in the college application journey significantly.
Be organized. Organization is a key detail when going through college applications. One popular tool is Google Spreadsheets for being able to keep all of your college information in one place. Another one, which all Notre Dame students are familiar with, is Maia Learning. Maia Learning has great resources for keeping together the colleges you are interested in, and also has all the data about population, academics, cost and transfer details and statistics of past ND admission trends. As a current senior, Isabella Herrera said, “Keep setting deadlines for yourself. You’ll want to get certain supplementals and applications done by a certain time and focus on the others after.”
Start researching and touring schools that might be of interest for you. As mentioned before, it is a great idea to have a secure list of schools you are interested in applying to, and you can always add on or omit schools later. During the summer, it is a great opportunity to travel and visit the colleges you are interested in. However, the downside of touring during summer is that there won’t be the students and activities happening around campus, which show the true spirit of each school. Some schools, however, offer summer programs for your preferred major, where you can stay on campus for a few days and get a feel for college life.
Getting ahead during summer is one goal I cannot stress enough. While the idea may be somewhat annoying, it significantly lessens the workload for your future self. During the summer, you can pile together a list of every step of the application you want to finish, such as the personal essay, activities list, or access to courses and grades. One way to focus on this is to sign up for Notre Dame’s College Application Workshop! This workshop will be happening between June 9-13 and is a great way to get a jump-start on college applications by getting help with application strategies, crafting essays and finalizing a school list.
As the current seniors get ready to graduate, there is a lot of advice to be shared to the juniors advancing to their final year. The exciting path ahead may be tedious and exhausting, but there are steps to take so that the process can be a little less stressful.
