Applying to College
Senior Fall To-Dos
Ready to apply to a 4-year college? Here is your to-do list
- Apply for NC residency here. You can do this as early as July 1st. NC residency is required if you hope to apply as an in-state student.
- Finalize your list of colleges to which you will be applying. Aim to apply to 3-10 schools with an equal mix of likely, target and reach admits.
- Use the scattergram info on Naviance, and the prediction tools on College Data to estimate your chances of admission.
- Also, check out this profile of last year's admitted seniors to UNC, NCSU, and highly selective universities.
- Check out the May Junior Newsletter for more info on developing your list.
- After August 1st, create an account in the Common Application if you have not already done so. If you already had an account, your demographic info will roll over at this point.
- You will now also need to pair your account with Naviance so that your counselor can send transcripts and you can request teacher letter of recommendations. Watch this video which will tell you how to pair your Naviance and Common App account.
- If you will be applying to a college that is not on the Common App, check out this flyer that shows you all the ways to apply to college.
- After you have paired your Common App account, please watch this video. This will show you how to add colleges to Naviance that are not on the Common App, request Letters of Recommendation, and request transcripts.
- Note that you do not have to request a letter of recommendation from your counselor. I will send one automatically if it is required by the college. Also, do not request teacher letters of recommendation in Naviance before you add all of your colleges to Naviance.
- Apply Early! Consider Early Decision if you are absolutely sure about a college and can pay to attend. Apply other colleges Early Action if available.
- Compare Early Decision to Regular Decision rates in this chart.
Parts of the College Application
Overall Application Strategies, Common App Companion, College Brainstorming Sheet
Essays
- Write about something that is important to you.
- Describe what you learned from the experience and how it changed you.
- Write multiple drafts over several days and don't wait until the last minute!
- Make sure to answer the question being asked.
- Have 1-2 people review your essay.
- Supplemental essays are just as important as the main essay.
- Essay prompts and College Essay Guy resources.
- The Super Essay, Why Us essay, School Specific essay, Why major essay
- Still stuck for a topic? Read this article for perspective.
Letters of Recommendation
- Every college will give you guidance on the types of teachers they require, but it is typically at least one academic teacher and they should be from your junior year.
- Give them a minimum of three weeks notice.
- Fill out this brag sheet to assist them in writing.
- If you need a counselor letter of recommendation, please fill out the following two brag sheets. Students, please fill out this form, and parents please fill out this form.
Activities List
- This is a very important part of your application. Please spend at least 30 minutes on this section.
- List your most important and time intensive activities first.
- Elaborate and use all available space.
- Use action verbs.
- Resource for writing your activities list and the BEABIES Chart.
- Additional Info section.
Transcripts
Most transcripts will be sent automatically for any college listed in Naviance. For any NC college not listed in Naviance, the student can send the transcript from CFNC.org.
Help! I'm not ready to apply yet.
- Revisit the junior college planning sheet to start the process.
- Complete a Corsava card sort to determine what you are looking for in a school. Make sure to share the results with your counselor.
- Make an appointment with your counselor.
- Once you have a list of colleges, pick up the to-do list above.
Applying to 2-year colleges
Check out this newsletter with all the essential steps to apply to a 2 year or a community college.
Paying for College
- Parents and students should have a conversation about the parents willingness and ability to pay for college and the approximate amount they are able to contribute. This is essential so that the student knows if they need to target schools that offer a lot of financial aid or scholarships.
- If scholarships or financial aid are important, review this presentation to get tips on picking good financial buys.
- Every family should file the FAFSA beginning December 1st. This will make you eligible for grants, loans, and work study and estimate the amount a family is able to contribute for college.
- All families should fill it out even if you believe you will not qualify for aid. Some colleges require the form before distributing scholarships.
- Some colleges also require the CSS Financial Aid profile. Visit the link to determine what colleges require it and to apply. In NC, Davidson, Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, and Elon require the form.
- Most of your scholarship money will come from the colleges themselves. Make this a part of your research to understand the process at each school because it varies and definitely plan to apply early. Check out this guide on finding and applying for scholarships.
Kelly Schaeffer
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