If you’re a senior and you haven’t opened a single college application yet, you might be feeling a little behind. If you’ve already submitted three applications, you might be wondering what else you could possibly need to do.
Either way, this is a good week to figure out where you actually stand.
College applications aren’t one giant assignment that you finish in one sitting. They’re a bunch of smaller pieces with different deadlines, and knowing what’s coming can make the whole process feel much more manageable.
At this point in senior year, you should have a general idea of where you want to apply, what each school requires, and when those applications are due. Some schools may have early deadlines coming up quickly, while others may have regular decision deadlines later in the fall or winter.
So make a list.
For each school, write down:
- Application deadline
- Application platform or method
- Essay or supplemental essay requirements
- Recommendation requirements
- Transcript requirements
- Test score requirements, if applicable
- Scholarship deadlines
- Financial aid information you need to complete
- Any additional materials specific to that school
Then actually check things off.
If you’re waiting on a recommendation letter, make sure the person writing it knows the deadline. If your transcript needs to be sent, figure out how that happens. If you have an essay that needs another round of editing, put time on your calendar to finish it. Don’t rely on remembering everything in your head.
And here’s an important one: don’t assume every deadline is the same.
A college application deadline and a scholarship deadline might be completely different. An application might be due December 1 while a scholarship connected to that school is due November 15. Missing the second one could mean missing out on money even though you submitted your application on time.
You also don’t need to wait until the deadline is two days away to finish everything. Give yourself room for questions, technical problems, a teacher who needs extra time, or an essay that needs more work than you expected.
The goal isn’t to panic your way through applications. It’s to know what needs to happen and give yourself enough time to do it well.
So if you haven’t already, spend some time this week looking at every college on your list and writing down the actual deadlines and requirements.
You’ll probably feel a lot better once “college applications” stops being one huge, vague thing and becomes a list of specific things you can actually do.
