Hello Admissions Family, 

Yahoo! Let’s get this party started! Common App, Scoir/Coalition, and UC System apps are now all officially open!!! Now, does that mean that we need to be in a rush and get everything done right away? Absolutely not! It just means that we can now get on the application platforms, confirm deadlines and supplemental essays, and really get moving forward with our organizational spreadsheets and timelines. Yes indeed, exciting times!!!

To those of you who’ve already been reading my posts, thank you! Some of this is a repeat of my mid-July Reminders, but it’s all really important, so I just want to make sure we are all on the same page.

Warning: these monthly reminders are loooooong… and there’s a lot of information. It’s all stuff you might have already done, but I just wanted you (and your parents) to see if all written out, so if there’s anywhere you need to catch up on, you can know. 

COLLEGE-ONLY EMAIL ADDRESS: Make a college-only email address if you haven’t already. I suggest firstname.lastname.college@gmail.com. Use that to request info from all the colleges on your list or that you’re considering so far. And use it to create your Common App account, and any other platforms you’ll be using, like Apply Texas, Scoir/Coalition Account, and UC apps. Do not use this email address for anything other than college admissions! You will be overwhelmed by emails and it needs to be easy to find info from colleges. Students, I suggest giving your parents access to this email address so they can help you stay on top of info from colleges!

FINISH UP TESTING: If you’re not satisfied with your test scores and you’d like to test again (or for the first time), try to get that finished up early this fall. Remember there will always be some colleges who’ll remain test-optional, so that’s an option for you if testing isn’t your forte.  

REQUEST INFO: If you haven’t yet, request info from every college you’re applying to — also request info from honors programs and specific majors. Use your college email address.

SPAM EMAIL FOLDER: Get in the habit of checking your spam folders regularly. Students often miss important messages from colleges in those folders. Parents, try to help out with this. If you’re not on your child’s email that they’re using for admissions, be sure to remind them to check regularly. Often, they’ll send info about specific dates and deadlines that aren’t published on Common App. 

THINK ABOUT YOUR COLLEGE LIST:  Plan to have at least 3 colleges where your likelihood of acceptance is high — or guaranteed — and you can afford it (parents, it’s your job to do the Net Price Calculators for this) and you like it and can happily see yourself there. There’s nothing worse than being shut out from all your highly selective/rejective colleges and being left without choices.

SEESAW LIST: If your list is unbalanced with far more reaches and unlikelies than likelies and targets, that’s what we call a SeeSaw List – It’s unbalanced. And, in my experience, unbalanced lists do not work out well for students. It means that you haven’t taken the time to dig and figure out what you really want in your college experience, and that lack of attention and intention shines through in the rest of your application. 

ORGANIZING YOUR LIST: Use a College Organizer Spreadsheet to get organized with all the dates your apps are due and the different types of supplemental essays each college requires. Be sure to go through the Common App College Page carefully; colleges often hide supplemental essays in the form of 200 word “questions.”  Take note of the word count for each essay, and also note on your spreadsheet whether the college will take a resume and if they require/allow interviews – and if there’s a deadline for signing up for interviews. 

ORGANIZE YOUR SUPPLEMENTS: I suggest making a folder for each college you’re applying to in your Supplemental Essay Folder. Inside that, make a document where you copy and paste each Supplemental Essay topic and Word Count.

 VIRTUAL AND LIVE VISITS AND TOURS: Go on a college tour and info session hosted by the college for every college you’re applying to. Be sure to sign up with your college email. If you’re planning to apply to Plan 2 at UT Austin or other honors programs (especially at UT Austin), be sure to go on those tours too. Take notes! You’ll want to mention something specific from the tour in your supplemental essays.

SENIOR YEAR COURSE LIST: Make sure your senior year course list has all the courses you need for the colleges you’re applying to. Most highly selective colleges like to see: 4 years of English, 4 years of Science (including Bio, Chem, and Physics), 4 years of History or Social Science, 4 years of Math (with Calculus), and 4 years of a Language other than English. If you don’t have these, check the recommended course lists for the colleges you’re applying to.

TIP: If you need a course, you could possibly do a one-semester next spring either at your school or at Community College, but you’ll need to be signed up for it to list it on your application. 

COMMON APP, SCOIR/COALITION, UC APP, APPLY TEXAS, and any other platform you’re using: Start filling out the basic information if you haven’t yet. For Apply Texas, you only need to fill it out once for your first school, then when you’ve completed that application, you copy it to start your second school.  Use your college email for this.

STARS RECORD: If you’re applying to any colleges on this list, start filling out this STARS form. It’s the Self-Reported Transcript and Academic Record System, and it’s tedious and can be time-consuming. It can be helpful to have two people for some students. You will need your transcript, so make sure you have it handy. 

COMMON APP AFFIRMATIONS: When you sign the Common App to submit your application, you are affirming that everything is your own work, true, and honestly submitted (this includes Chat GPT, AI, and any rewrites that are not in your own words or that do not consist of your thoughts). You acknowledge that you could be subject to “a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree should the information I have certified be false.” You also agree to notify the colleges if there are any changes to the information you provide in your application, and that if you need to notify colleges, you will need to contact the institution. Link to Common App and FERPA Affirmations is here. Please make sure you and your parents read them. 

NOTES ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL ESSAY, SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS, and AI: I have zero tolerance for AI, Chat GPT, Claude, etc use in essay writing. Here is why:

  • When AI is used to write, all writing sounds the same
  • An essay needs to be in your voice, your words – not the voice of a conglomeration of writing over all time, and certainly not in the voice of a robot that thinks its sounds human
  • The only reason the personal essay still exists in college admissions is because colleges want to learn about the specifics of you and who you are and what you care about – not about what a Chat bot or AI thinks you should sound like
  • Essays with typos and less than perfect structure but who share specifics about you and who you are and what you care about are far more preferred than polished essays about basic teenager
  • The best way to avoid issues with sounding robotic or like every other human out there,  is to avoid using any of the Chat GPT etc bots. Don’t use them for thinking, brainstorming, or putting your thoughts in order in any way. Using the planning part with AI also causes more problems in the long run for you than even college essay issues. It’s preventing you from learning basic, human, adult-needed skills, like thinking through flow, ideas, organization, and  learning about how your own brain works

MY FULL TIMELINE: If you want a broader view of everything you need to be doing, check out my Rising Junior and Senior Admissions Journey Timeline.

BREATHE: Take time to sit back and take a big deep breath. You’re not running a race here, and for most of the colleges on your list, you have plenty of time. Remember to focus on where you are in the process – not where you think you should be or where your friends or classmates are. And YOU’ve got this!

FOR PARENTS — 

  • Net Price Calculators: start exploring net price calculators on college web pages so you can see what works best for your family in determining costs. Before a school’s finalized on your child’s list, make sure it’s in the range of affordability by using the net price calculator on the college’s website. If it’s not and they don’t offer merit scholarships, I suggest taking it off the list. You really don’t want to saddle your child with debt if it’s unnecessary.
  • Create a No College Talk Zone/Time: It’s important to communicate with your child about college admissions, but you also don’t want to make it the topic of every conversation. That’s why I suggest that you designate a space in your house or a set time when you can (or cannot) talk about college admissions. In my house, we made the kitchen table off-limits for college conversation. That way, my kids knew they could have a peaceful family meal without their somewhat college-obsessed mother always directing the conversation toward college admissions :) 
  • Common App Family Section: Parents, your child will need  information from both parents/Legal Guardians when they complete the Common App, so please create a document with your career/job/and higher education information for your child to access – or better yet, sit with them while they do this part of the application. This will keep the process moving.