College Planning Timeline - Grade 12

This is it. This is when the decision needs to be made. Some students will consider applying "Early Decision" and making a commitment during the Fall. Applying "Early Decision" allows a student who is confident of his or her first choice to apply during the first semester and be accepted (or not…) before the Winter holidays.

For example, a student applying for early decision at Princeton must have SAT I and II scores and application filed before the first week of November, and is notified of admission status by early December. The regular admission deadline is in early January. The trade-off is that applying for early decision is an ethical, if not legal, commitment to apply to only one school, and to attend that school if accepted. The process has come under scrutiny recently, because admission statistics indicate that students are more likely to be admitted if they apply Early Decision. Some critics charge that this forces students to make decisions without knowing all their options, and also artificially boosts the college's statistics in key areas affecting their ratings in national surveys.

Students applying for regular admission will apply sometime between the end of the first semester and the beginning of the second semester (dates vary), and will (hopefully) receive offers of admission in April or May.

Some things to keep in mind for this year:

Understand the difference between "rolling admissions" and "fixed admissions." Most colleges use either one or the other process to admit students. Rolling admissions means the student sends in the application, the college's admissions office will consider it, and within a fixed time period, notifies the student if he or she has been admitted. Fixed admissions means the student sends in the application before a particular deadline (e.g. February 15 or March 15), the college's admissions office considers it along with every other application submitted, and mails out acceptance letters on a particular day, often May 1st.

With fixed admissions it doesn't matter if the application goes out in November or the day it's due… all applications are considered together. In general, the more selective the college, the more likely it uses fixed admissions, which enables the college to select the very best applicants among all those who apply. If the student is not admitted, however, he or she may be placed on a waiting list and notified if a position in the class becomes available once all those who have been offered admission have replied to the offer.

Seniors should usually take the SAT exam one more time in the Fall of the Senior year.

Students and families should visit the top schools and talk with students, talk with faculty, talk with recent alumni. At this point, it's great to ask questions of the admissions reps, but don't rely on them for the answers to the real "gut" questions like "do I feel comfortable here?" and "will I find people like me?" and "can I get the courses I need?" and "are the faculty accessible to undergraduates?" and "is the food good?"

The student should practice doing some interviews with guidance counselors, teachers, or others who can help you refine his or her presentation. Usually, admissions counselors conduct part of the interview with the whole family, but the rest with the applicant alone. If the admissions rep asks, "Tell me about an accomplishment you're most proud of…" and the applicant can only stutter and look embarrassed, the admissions rep will NOT be impressed. Even if parents attend the entire interview, this is not the time for proud Mom to say, "Honey… be sure and tell the nice man about the prize you won in the elementary school science fair…"

Practice filling out applications. Many schools will offer the opportunity to apply on-line, and some will even waive the application fee for on-line applications. However, the student will need to write essays for nearly every college application, and the questions are not likely to be the same, so this means up to a dozen essays. This should NOT be left until the last minute, and someone should proofread the essay before it's submitted. There are a number of on-line advice resources which can give students pointers about writing essays, and for a fee, some will even proofread and evaluate them! (www.kaplan.com).

Students should NOT slack off in courses! Bright students interested in selective college admissions should take Advanced Placement courses whenever possible. All students should RESIST the temptation to take easy courses in the senior year in order to "reward" themselves for all their hard work so far. High school just isn't that hard… you don't really deserve to relax yet!

Make sure applications for admissions and required paperwork for financial is filed ON TIME! 'Nuff said.

Unless money is a huge obstacle (in which case the student and family should ask about having the application fee waived), apply to at least three schools.

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