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September begins the final year of high school for Seniors, and it will be a whirlwind!
PCCI is here to help students through each step of the college application process. In this way, we keep students on task and ensure they stay on track.
Seniors, now is the time to focus on several things:
Finalize your list of colleges you will apply to. Keep it to 10 or less.
Start your applications, outline your deadlines and complete all of your writing now. This way, you will have everything lined up and if you're a strong candidate for early action (EA), you'll be able to hit EA deadlines.
A couple of important notes about essays: The best way to include your essay in the Common Application is to cut and paste it from an MSWord doc. The Common App essay is the same essay that goes to all colleges. If you do need another essay as a supplement, do NOT just tweak the Common App essay. For example, if the supplemental essay is a “why us” question, then you need to be specific about what makes you and that particular school a good fit.
Contact your guidance counselor and teachers giving you recommendations. Make sure they are aware of your deadlines and get the recommendations, transcripts, and school reports uploaded on time for you. Be aware of how your colleges want submissions (i.e., some have their own forms they want filled for recommendations).
As for SAT scores, save yourself some money and just self report your scores if allowed. Then follow up with official submission only to where you’re going to enroll.
For late-blooming Seniors who haven't begun the process and are scrambling: Get it together now. Research and look at schools. You may even have time to adjust your current schedule if there are certain classes you haven't taken, yet may look better on your college applications. Are you making A's? Have you been taking Honors English the whole time? Try to get into an AP class. Colleges want to see that you're challenging yourself and will factor this into their decision.
And, for parents of seniors, make sure you and your student have completed the FAFSA and submitted it to all the schools being applied to in October. This can be done in advance of the actual school applications. Also, if your student is applying to any colleges that require the CSS form in addition to the FAFSA, then do that in October as well.
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