College Applications and Holiday Mania: It’s a Juggling Act!

For anyone who works with high school seniors applying to college, Fall and Winter are stressful seasons. There’s no dearth of busy work to be done, and usually with some pretty stringent deadlines attached to them. In September and October, life was about getting applications ready to submit to Early Decision, Early Action and Rolling Admissions schools. What with the ED and EA deadlines having come and gone, these applicants are now awaiting decisions. Will they be accepted? Deferred? Denied?

As the holiday season approaches, so does high school senior anxiety. There is anxiety associated with Early Admission Plan results. For others, it’s the anxiety associated with first semester/trimester performance and test scores. Then, there are the dreaded applications and essays.

My high school seniors will enjoy the upcoming winter break; they will not be cramming to get applications prepared, essays written and scores sent out during a time that is meant for relaxation and fun.

I am happy to say that for most of the high school senior students with whom I have worked, applications have either been submitted or are literally in proofreading and pre-submission stages. Essays have been revised numerous times. Recommendations have been requested, written, and sent and numerous meetings with the college counselor have already occurred. Regardless of whether my high school senior students have applied as Early Decision/Action or Rolling Admissions candidates or whether they are looking to apply as Regular Decision candidates, their application work is, for the most part, done. Submission is just a computer click away.

My high school seniors will enjoy the upcoming winter break; they will not be cramming to get applications prepared, essays written and scores sent out during a time that is meant for relaxation and fun.

For those of you who don’t have someone to guide you through the process and to set you up with a timeline that will help get you to the deadlines in plenty of time for fun, here’s some advice:

1. Start your online applications as soon as possible. Now is always a good time.
2. Don’t over-think the writing process as you approach the essays. Be true to your own voice. Don’t try to be funny if you’re a serious person. The essay is your opportunity to connect with the admissions office. It has really taken the place of the college admissions interview. So do your best to show them who you are and what makes you special.
3. Don’t wait until the last minute to submit applications. Give yourself plenty of time so that you can proofread your work carefully.
4. Reach out to others who can be helpful, who can give you some objective perspective or who might proofread your application and essays for you. This person can be a parent, a friend, an older sibling, a teacher or your college counselor. As an educational consultant, this is something I do as a matter of course for my students.
5. After you have had a number of people proofread for you, give your application a last once-over or two. And then submit.
6. Online submission can be a multi-step process. Make sure you have done your due diligence and completed all steps (applications/supplements/payments)
7. Sending your test scores are your responsibility. Copies of testing might show up on an official transcript. However, colleges and universities expect and require students to submit original copies of testing that come directly from The College Board or from ACT.
8. Follow up after submission to make sure that your application is complete—that your application materials, fees, test scores, transcripts and recommendations have all been received.

My advice to all students in their senior year is to try to get this work done as soon as you can. There is absolutely no reason to spend the whole month of December procrastinating and avoiding the inevitable. Put your mind and energy to the task right away and you will find that even if you choose to submit after Christmas, you will be able to enjoy a relatively stress-free holiday if you get on-task and start working on your applications before the winter break begins.

In my office, things are starting to quiet down, finally! It’s December and as soon-to be seniors (now high school juniors) receive their PSAT scores, I am already meeting with new students to help them plan a successful college search and application process. I am also actively hosting workshops about the financial aid process and helping families through the financial aid and scholarship process. There’s never a dull moment in the work I do, and that’s what makes being an educational consultant so much fun!

Happy Holidays!

Christine Chapman is the Director of Client Services for Starr & Chapman, Inc. in Sagamore Beach, MA. She maintains the blog College Chat with Christine Chapman on CapeCodToday.com.