Admissions Timeline & Tips for Rising Juniors and Seniors

Webinar Transcription

2024-07-23 – Admissions Timeline & Tips for Rising Juniors and Seniors

Sydney: Hello, welcome everyone to tonight’s webinar, “Admissions Timeline and Tips for Rising Juniors and Seniors.” My name is Sydney Mantell, um, I use she, they pronouns and I will be your moderator today. I’m also a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor and a proud first generation college student. So I love giving back.

To the students of tomorrow with CollegeAdvisor. Um, I graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I have my master’s from Duke University. I now do science communication work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. Um, and yeah, I love being with CollegeAdvisor.

So just to quickly orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re going to start off with the presentation and then answer your questions in a live Q& A. So on the sidebar of the layout, you can download the slides on the handout tab, and you can already start submitting your questions whenever you want through the Q& A tab.

All right, and so with that, we’re going to go ahead and meet our presenters, Stacey Tuttle.

Stacey: Thanks so much, Sydney. Um, I’m Stacey Tuttle. She, her pronouns. I, um, currently work at the Yale School of Public Health, uh, in their Student Affairs Department. That’s also where I have gotten most of my admissions experience.

So, I am a former admissions officer for that school. Yale is also my alma mater. That’s where I got my undergraduate degree. And so I’ve been at Yale for quite some time. Um, it’s definitely a school that I hold near and dear to my heart. Um, but I do have a lot of experience applying to myself to Ivy League and top 20 schools.

Um, I have experience in applying to pre health programs specifically because my master’s degree is in master’s as a master’s of public health degree. Um, and of course I work for a school of public health still today. Uh, and I am excited to talk to you all at a pivotal time of year as we approach. The fall semester, the opening of the applications for rising juniors and seniors in the room.

There’s a lot of really great content tonight. Um, and so thank you all for being with us. I’m excited to get started.

Sydney: Great, and before we start with the presentation, we just want to get a quick look at who is in the room tonight. So, if you could answer what grade you are in. And yeah, and while people are answering that question, Stacey, I just want to ask, um, if you could maybe share one of your favorite classes from high school and how that transferred into your experience in college.

Stacey: Oh, that is a really great question. And I thankfully have a very immediate answer to that. And I know this off the top of my head so readily. because of the impact it had on my college experience. Uh, AP statistics is a class I took in high school. I went to a public high school, um, where we didn’t have a lot of AP courses available, and I’m really grateful to the instructor who taught it.

He taught almost all of the AP math courses. related courses in my high school. So without him, we wouldn’t have had that available. And AP statistics is where I fell in love with statistics. I’ve always loved stats ever since. Um, it’s the reason why I pursued my major in psych neuroscience. And I did a lot of research related work during my undergrad stats was absolutely, um, such an impactful course for me to the point where I actually wrote back to my high school teacher in college and said, thank you so much for preparing me.

So well, because a lot of my peers had been struggling in intro statistics courses for our major, and I felt very prepared. So I think a good takeaway from that for you all, um, rising juniors and seniors, especially is if you’re considering AP courses, that could be helpful for you down the line in terms of your major and future career.

That might be really, um, important at this stage in your educational career to get that early education and put yourself on a really, um, good foot forward into your college and undergraduate studies.

Sydney: Great. Thanks for that, Stacey. Um, all right. So I’m gonna go ahead and close the poll. It looks like we have the perfect amount of people in the room. We have a lot of juniors and seniors about, um, that makes up most of the room tonight. And then we have a couple of folks who are either underclassmen or in that other category.

So thank you all for joining us tonight. And with that, I’ll turn it over to Stacey.

Stacey: Thanks so much. So again, we have a lot of great content today. Um, we’re, what I’m going to do is break up the time periods that are most relevant to you. Um, starting with our juniors and moving into senior year. And highlight the parts of your application preparation process that you should be thinking about.

We’re going to start here with the summer between sophomore and junior years for our rising juniors in the room. At this point in your high school career, you want to be maximizing your summer. period. Um, it’s not a lot of time. It might seem like a lot of time, but it’s not a lot of time for you to really, um, focus in on what your passions are and what, um, and, and take time to do those projects and additional, um, studying and additional steps you might need in your college research before you go back to the grind of the standard academic year.

So my first recommendation at this stage is to start practicing for your standardized tests. Now, a lot of institutions were test optional for many years since the pandemic. Now moving forward, a lot of institutions starting in 2024’s application cycle have changed back to test required. And so as if you are a rising junior in the room or earlier, I, and even our rising seniors at this point, if you haven’t taken a test yet, It’s going to be really important for you to research the colleges on your list and understand if they are test required again.

Because if you have a college on your list and they’re test required, you are going to need a test score to submit. Test optional is going to potentially become less common moving into future application cycles. So practice, practice, practice. Use your summertime for practicing. My suggestion is always to create some kind of practice schedule for yourself to keep yourself accountable for that studying time.

So let’s just say once a week on Sundays for an hour, you carve out SAT prep time. Make it reasonable and feasible for you. Focus on the parts of the test that you need to focus on, the parts that you’re maybe getting a little over scores in or maybe questions that are more confusing to you. And Use your summers to focus because it’s going to be easier to do that in the summer versus the standard academic year, and you can spend more time, dedicate more time to that.

I also encourage students every summer to pursue meaningful activities related to their academic goals. And professional passions, potentially, in addition to your general passions. So when I say academic and professional passions, these are the things that would be related to your future education and career goals, say you are STEM focused.

Maybe you will be interested in pursuing internships or, um, research related summer opportunities. And those are typically opportunities that you have to apply for. You have to think ahead about. So you would have applied for those earlier. in the spring or fall of the year prior. Um, but if not, if you’re in the middle of summer, say right now, or maybe you’re starting a summer, um, in the future and you don’t really have anything lined up, start thinking about your, your close connections in your life.

Do you have people who you could shadow for a week or, or so to get a sense of the type of work they’re doing? Is that work that you’re interested in doing? Can you volunteer locally at Centers, hospitals or whatever that looks like for you to get that volunteer that can be service experience related to something that you’re really interested in.

Can you offer to take unpaid work in an area to get direct exposure to a career opportunity? And if none of that is possible, what else can be you be doing to be spending your time in a meaningful way in the summer? For me, I had to work. Um, I had to work a job and, you know, had bills to pay and things like that.

So I was, um, always working, even during the academic year. So the summer, that did not change for me. I always had a job. Um, you might also be doing sports in the summer. Maybe joining summer sports leagues of some kind, because that’s really a passion of yours, or you might be pursuing an independent project of some kind that you don’t have time for during the academic year.

I’ve had students pursue, um, or create podcasts, um, pursue book drives, um, Do craft related fairs or agricultural related endeavors in the summer. So there’s all sorts of things that you can do in the summer that would make it a meaningful time period for you. What I would not suggest doing is let the summer go by without engaging with the world in at least one meaningful way.

Um, this doesn’t mean that you can’t take time for yourself and relax, but I do think it’s, it’s pivotal that you spend that time doing something that would be meaningful to you and your future family. Goals to that end. Also, this might be a really great time to create a resume. A lot of your college applications might be requiring a resume of you.

And so to get started on that early is. going to benefit you in the long run because when it comes time for your applications, if you have to upload a resume, you already have one ready. You can just make sure that’s updated and corrected by the time you submit your applications and you’re good to go.

So it’s always a good idea to get ahead of the game on the resume building. Um, you can also take this time to visit colleges. Summer is a great time for flexibility. Maybe your, your family members or, or guardians who are supporting you in this process can take some time with you to make those visits, especially if they do require some road trips.

Um, I remember doing this with my family as well, and it was really helpful for me to gain that firsthand insight into what it was like to be on these college campuses. They’re all very, very different. And to get a sense for what that campus is like, uh, is really important that you do visit. If you can, and therefore work also on your preliminary college list as a result, you are going to have to create a college list in the long term and then narrow that down to a final list.

Um, Sydney and I were just talking about how, you know, applications cost money and they take time. And so you do need to start thinking critically about which colleges are going to make that list. Um, you also might start thinking forward to scholarships and financial aid. Ask these questions of the colleges you’re visiting, the colleges you’re considering.

Look at their financial aid websites. And then also think about outside scholarships that may be be maybe unrelated to the institutions you’re applying to start creating those lists of opportunities scholarship and financial aid wise that you’re going to want to consider moving forward and create those organized lists for yourself with relevant deadlines and links and such so that you are not scrambling later on.

Optional here, I’ve had students consider taking summer coursework at maybe some local institutions like a local community college, or maybe they’re taking a summer class to help further themselves along toward an academic or career goal. Not required. Again, if you have time, it’s something you’re interested in doing, definitely a worthwhile endeavor.

And again, don’t forget to take downtime for yourself. It’s okay to take vacation. It’s okay to take time, um, away from the academic year to catch up on some R& R. So now moving into junior fall, this is when you’re going to continue your college exploration process. You might take time to do more trips or at least do some more research and really sit down and start thinking about your priorities when it comes to your college list.

What are those things that you absolutely need to see in a college for it to make your list? What are your priorities? And to that end, what are your deal breakers? Deal breakers are the factors that if an institution doesn’t have x, y, or z that are important to you, they need to be removed from your list.

So let’s say you’ve discovered you don’t like large college campuses. Okay, you need to think about which colleges don’t necessarily fit your size preference. Maybe you’ve determined that you do not want to attend a school that doesn’t have great. Career support in the arts. Okay, start thinking about that and asking questions of the colleges that you’re considering to see what kind of support is there really think about your deal breakers.

And one of the biggest deal breakers should be around your program and major preferences, even institutions not offering programs or majors that are exciting to you that fit your educational and career goals. Those should be eliminated from your list. That should really be one of your top deal breakers when you’re having these conversations.

During your fall junior year, you also want to focus on excelling in your coursework and maintaining your GPA. Junior year is a really important year academically for you to demonstrate where you are in your academic life to future institutions. You might consider at this point taking a standardized test.

You’ve practiced all summer, you’ve studied, now might be a good time to schedule that first test for you to take. I recommend typically taking this A maximum of two to three times before you submit your college application. So if you end up taking it three times, let’s say your first time is junior fall.

Your second time might be junior spring and your final time would likely be the summer before senior year. So taking your first test in fall junior year gives you that time to schedule the additional test if you feel that you need to improve your score. Other things to consider you in the fall of your junior year, you’re going to want to continue pursuing those meaningful extracurriculars for you.

So these are the things that are impactful activities, either on you from your community or both things that allow you a high level of engagement. Maybe you’re engaging with these extracurriculars, not just at the regional level at your school level, but maybe you’re engaging at. The state level or the national level, or even the international level.

So really consider those opportunities and take advantage of those, um, to consider extracurriculars that you’ve maintained for a long period of time, length of commitment is very important in the college admissions process, seeing that you’re committed to an activity and that you maintain that throughout your high school career.

Looks favorable. And then also consider those activities that are relevant to your academic and career goals. You know, you want to demonstrate that you are pursuing a path toward those goals. If there are opportunities, new opportunities as you enter junior year or existing opportunities that you want to continue, definitely do so.

And then, of course, don’t let go of those passions, even if they don’t seem directly relevant to your goals. It’s important to be true to who you are and authentic about what you are genuinely interested in doing. And there, even if an activity, like say, say you’re playing soccer, but you want to maybe be a Spanish teacher.

There are skills that you can gain from being on the soccer team that could lend themselves to your future teaching career. And so even if it doesn’t seem directly relevant, you are getting skills, you are gaining life experience that will be important, not only to your application process, but to who you are later in your career.

And then this is actually a period of time. And I alluded to this earlier, when you want to start preparing plans or applications for summer opportunities. Next summer. So you’re seeing the summer before your senior year. There are some applications for summer opportunities that will have deadlines in late fall or early winter.

So say sometime between December and February at the latest. Some of these deadlines are in March. A lot of them are in January, February. So you’re going to want to start in June or fall if you’re considering future summer opportunities or programs. looking into those programs, creating those lists, seeing when those deadlines are, and preparing your applications if necessary.

Junior spring, February to May, this is a really crucial time to start ramping up for the summer and then the senior year ahead, right? You’re going to want to fine tune your college list at this stage. To that end, you’ll want to discuss your choices with counselors, families, family members, or trusted advisors in your life to make sure you’re considering all of the variables.

And you’re feeling confident about the final choices that you’re making. Again, consider the majors of interest that you have for all of your top choices. If an institution is not offering you a major that you’re actually interested in pursuing, maybe that institution should not be on your list. So really carve out those deal breakers, those priorities that you want to focus on in your college list and fine tune the college list to the set number that you are hoping to apply to.

This is not to say that as you approach the application season and your senior year, maybe it might change a little, like maybe you might add on a college that you didn’t think about before, and maybe you might remove a college that you no longer want to apply to. It’s okay for it to evolve, but you want to have a baseline, you want to have a foundation.

As you enter your senior summer, this is also a really great time to identify potential letters of recommendation and have those conversations in person with those instructors, right? So moving into summer, you might not have, you might lose the opportunity to talk to instructors directly one on one.

about writing you a letter. And I always find it to be easier to have those conversations first in person. They’re more personal. Um, and so you can really relate to the instructors, why you’re choosing them. And, you know, talk to them about those meaningful experiences that you’ve had in maybe their class or maybe in an extracurricular activity and what you hope that they can convey about you, given their experience with you.

Have those conversations and see who is on board with writing you those letters. If you can identify those top instructors, you can then later follow up with them in the summer with an email update, you know, give them a copy of your resume, say, Hey, I just wanted to check in, make sure that, you know, you’re still interested in writing me a letter.

I’m going to begin my college application process soon. But having those conversations in June or spring means you get ahead of that process by one step. And keep in mind that a lot of instructors will be asked to write letters for many students and sometimes will say no when they reach capacity. So by asking them early, getting a jumpstart on this, you ensure that you are getting full consideration by all the teachers that you’re asking.

Um, this, I mentioned earlier, is again, a great time to take another standardized test if you feel like you need to retake that. Or, if you have not taken it at all, I highly recommend taking it in June or Spring for the first time. So, you have a little bit more time to take it again through summer. Latest in the fall of your senior year.

Um, but really, this would be the latest I would recommend taking the test for the first time if possible. You’ll continue making that coursework that you were already taking, um, or maybe new coursework if, you know, your, your coursework changes from fall to spring. Um, and then also your extracurriculars need to be continued.

At this stage you’ll want to solidify your summer plans. So you might have heard back from any of the applications if you applied for some of those summer opportunities or programs. And if you have heard positive results can plan accordingly. If you’ve heard, um results where you maybe didn’t get into an opportunity or you think it’s likely for a program you can now pivot and say okay, I don’t have that program.

What else can I do this summer that would be meaningful to me? Talk to your guidance counselor. Talk to the people in your life. To get a sense of maybe their suggestions given what your goals are, um, and then move forward from there. And then finally I would recommend towards the end of junior year begin working on your personal statement the common app prompts Typically don’t change much if at all from year to year.

They’ve already been released for this year for you rising seniors out there and without fail. There’s usually one option. That is a choose your own adventure option. Meaning, you know, it’s sort of like open ended choose a topic of your choice. And so even if. Common app were to change their prompts slightly from year to year.

I anticipate that would always be one of the options. And so having a draft written in at the end of your junior year will allow you to keep fine tuning that, working on that, and hopefully have a final draft ready. By the time the Common App opens. Essays take time. You are not going to write a perfect personal statement right at the gate.

It’s not going to happen. On average, I think I go through about eight drafts of a personal statement with a student. So you want to make sure that you’re not settling on the first essay. You’re not writing it at midnight the night before, you know, the applications due. You want eyes on that essay. And to that end, if you start it.

Early at the end and at the end of your junior year, writing a draft of that and working through additional drafts, you will have plenty of time to really settle on the best version of your personal statement. All right, moving on to the summer between junior and senior year. So, for you, rising seniors, that’s where we are now.

Again, Maximizing your summer is the goal. At this stage, you’ll finalize your college list, and you’re going to want to start considering the relevant deadlines for the colleges you selected. So not every college is going to have the same type of deadlines or even the same Deadlines within those types.

Some are regular decision schools. They have regular decision deadlines sometime around January. Others have early, um, deadlines, early action or early decision. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. And so you’re gonna want to think about what the college is on your list, which of the early deadlines.

are important to you of the schools that you’re deciding between, and what are those dates so that you can start planning accordingly. At this stage, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to prepare a scholarship financial aid list. What are those things that you need to have full consideration for the scholarships?

and financial aid that you would like to apply for. You would also want to take your final standardized tests at this point if they are needed of you. Um, meaning if you decide that you need to retake it one last time, given your prior test scores, or if you never took it at all, you should really consider taking it in summer before senior year so that you can meet those early deadlines for schools if necessary.

You’ll want to continue spending time pursuing those, those activities that are important to you, similar to what we talked about at the end of your. Junior year before, um, or sorry in the summer before your junior year, and then continue working on it and finalizing your personal statement. So you started the draft hopefully end of junior year, you’re continuing to work through that into the summer months.

If you have time, especially if you’re done with your personal statement already already. you can begin preparing supplemental essays for schools. So some schools will require additional essays of you outside of just the personal statement. Some schools will actually have entirely separate applications outside of the common app, so they have a whole different set of essays that are not the personal statement.

So start thinking about the colleges on your list, see which ones require supplements typically, and start working on your top school supplements so you can work through those essays at a quicker pace, um, before the applications even open. Knowing, one caveat, that the supplemental essay prompts can change from year to year.

So until, uh, the Common App opens, you might not have a precise sense of those, but you can base drafts on what you’ve seen the prompts were from last season until that point. I would follow up with your, the writers for your letter’s recommendation in the summer. I mentioned that earlier. And again, definitely take some down time for yourself because once the application opens and the school year starts, you’re going to be very busy.

Okay, Sydney, over to you.

Sydney: Yeah. So we’re going to take a quick pause and ask another question. We would just like to know where you all are in the college application process. So I’m going to open up that poll as well. And while folks are answering that question, Stacey, I’m just wondering if you could share a little bit about, uh, some of the ways that you spent your summers in high school and if you had any activities that stood out to you or things that you enjoyed.

Stacey: Yeah, great question. So, um, I spent a lot of the time in the summer doing summer camps, mostly sports camps, Um, I was a counselor for an ecology camp. Um, I worked, I mentioned, I worked at my local grocery store. That was something I did my, and I, I was really attached to, um, my manager and the staff there.

They were really, um, you know, part of, you know, My extended family. And so that was really important to me. Um, but I played tennis in the summer. Um, took piano lessons. There were, there were many things that I did. And what I would like to convey to students is that you don’t have to have that one competitive research program right in your summer.

What’s more important is that you’re spending it. And I mentioned this in those slides, spending your time doing something that’s meaningful to you, right, doing the things that are important to you. And I went on vacations with my family in the summertime, too. So, um, there are definitely, you don’t have to have this, like, picture perfect research program in your summer to get into a top tier school.

You just need a balanced. Well rounded summer where you’re not necessarily sitting on the couch watching TV the whole time, but you also are. You know, pursuing those things that are helpful for you and reaching your goals and understanding who you are and what’s important to you alongside rest and relaxation.

Sydney: Great answer. Definitely a little bit of everything is important. Um, so we have students all across the board. We have about half of our students who are in the researching school space. Some students who haven’t started yet, a few who are working on essays or getting their application materials together, and a few that are almost done altogether.

So people are kind of all throughout that patient process today.

Stacey: Awesome. Great. It’s totally understandable to be at varying points in the application process, especially because you’re all at different grade levels. If you’re sitting in the room today and you’re like, Oh my gosh, I’m so behind giving everything Stacy saying everybody’s a little different.

And I think more relevant to that. that you don’t have to be prepared for early deadlines. So let’s talk about what early deadlines look like in relation to regular decision deadlines. Um, most applications will open in August, including the common app. The common app opens on August 1st. Deadlines related to colleges for early deadlines.

Those are anywhere between October and December in my experience. And there’s two types of early deadlines that you will see two categories. The first is early action. Early action essentially means you apply early and you find out early. There’s a slight increase in admissions chance related to that category, so that’s appealing for some students, especially if they are, um, they’re ready early and they would like to find out a decision early.

Early decision, meanwhile, is you apply early, you find out early, and again, a slight increase in admissions chance there, but the key difference from early action is that with early decision, you are saying, if I get into your school, I am coming. You are committing at that point. Um, and so you can only apply to one school early decision because you can’t commit like that to many institutions.

You can only commit to one. So when you’re reviewing your list, you’re going to want to ask yourself, is there one school on this list? that I will go to no matter what? And do they offer early decision? If so, you might consider aiming for that early decision deadline with your application process. I’ll, uh, most schools will have a regular decision deadline, if not all schools, um, and those regular decision deadlines are sometime between December and March.

So, The vast majority are in January and many will sneak up on students because they’re right after the new year. So you want to make sure you’re paying attention to that, especially with holidays and the winter break. For most schools, you want to make sure you’re paying attention to when those regular decision deadlines are scheduled.

Now, there has been a rise in early, something called early decision two in recent years, where if, Essentially, you haven’t gotten into your Early Decision 1 schools, you now have an opportunity to say, okay, of my remaining schools, do any of these have Early Decision 2 deadlines, which tend to be the same as regular decision, and essentially you’re applying to Early Decision 2 schools with that same level of commitment.

but by the regular decision deadline. So keep that in mind as well if you see that. There’s also a rolling decision. This is typically, um, anywhere between September and April. Schools will accept your application and release a decision shortly thereafter. Um, and so if you might, you might apply in September and find out that same month, depending on the institution’s timeline.

You can also apply in April and find out in April, but just keep in mind that if you do apply to rolling decision schools later. They do have a certain number of spots for admitting students and those spots do fill up. So applying early is still beneficial even with the rolling decision schools. Early action decision notices typically come out in, in sometime between December and February.

I remember I applied early action to Yale and I found out in December. They tend to be a little later these days, but sometime between December and February is typically when you find out if you apply early. Early decision two and regular decision notices typically come out between February and April, so a little later, and then rolling decision again anytime after you submit through April.

While you’re applying, just make sure you’re considering the financial aid deadlines associated with these institutions. A lot of them will ask for you to submit documentation for financial aid at a similar deadline alongside your applications, so that they can provide you financial aid package information along with your decision.

So keep that in mind. So in your fall, September to January, at this point you’re going to be applying to school, right? That’s really your primary objective, um, is to, outside of maintaining your grades and your extracurriculars and your standard schedule, you’re going to be collecting all of the relevant materials, which I’ve listed here.

So with the Common App or whichever applications you’re applying through, you’re going to have a personal and demographic information section that you’re going to want to fill out. So take time, sit down and do that accurately. There’s also going to be transcript or academic information requirements of you.

Again, you want to carve out time to make sure you’re sitting down and entering that information accurately into your applications. You’re going to want to submit those standardized test scores. Um, a lot of the time students will ask me, are schools weighing all the test scores I’m submitting or just the highest one?

It depends on the institution and what their policy is. So just make sure you’re doing that research if you’re concerned about which scores are being counted. You’re also going to have a list of activities that you have to submit and or a resume. This is why preparing a resume early would be really helpful.

So it keeps you organized, keeps your thoughts in one place. Typically, there’s also an honors and awards section where you can highlight honors or awards you’ve gotten during your high school career. Um, larger recommendation, we talked about that. You’re going to want to enter your contact information for those letters and send those off.

Your personal statement will be submitted, and then there will be supplemental questions and essays related to each of your institutions. Some will have these. Some might not have any at all, um, but each institution will be different, and you will have to abide by those requirements before you submit.

There may also be an interview component for some of these schools, um, it’s less common, and even now, interviews are not necessarily a pivotal component of the application decision making process, but rather just one of the many factors that admissions officers will consider. Um, you’re The truth of the matter is there’s no longer this, uh, availability of admissions officers and related representatives to give the number of interviews they might need to give in a season.

So some institutions are still doing interviews, but again, it is just one of the many factors that they will consider. And just because you don’t get an interview doesn’t mean that you won’t get into an institution. Remember that financial aid documentation that you have to as well. And again, You do have to maintain your grades and maintain your schedule and all of those things alongside your application process.

A mid year report is sent to universities even after you’ve applied, so they’re going to be able to see your grades from the start of senior year, and you want to make sure those grades are positive. Senior Spring. At this point, you’re going to finish any remaining applications. If that’s applicable to you, you might be done at this point, but some people might have a few left.

Senior Spring. You’re going to want to send letters of continued interest to any schools if you’ve been deferred or waitlisted at this point. So, at this stage, based on the early decision, uh, decision notices that typically come out a little earlier, you might have applied early to schools. and already know that you’ve been waitlisted at them and or have been deferred to the regular decision pool.

So you weren’t admitted early, they deferred you to regular decision instead. At that stage, you can update them with a letter of continued interest if they allow that. So you just basically say I’m still interested in your school, these are the things that I’ve been up to, this is You know, why you’re still a great fit for me, the letter could be helpful as an additional step in your application process to those institutions since you had been waitlisted or deferred for them.

And then if you have been admitted and you have those decisions, you’re going to want to consider all of those admissions decisions and those financial aid packages with the trusted advisors you have in your life and your family. And if you have the opportunity, I highly encourage you to visit your top choices.

Um, they all typically offer admitted students days. Sometimes they allow you to stay overnight in a dorm and really get that student experience before you make a final decision. And you do want to notify Your top institution of your final choice and submit your deposit to matriculate at those that institution by May 1st Sydney over to you.

Sydney: All right, and so with that we are going to start the question and answer segment of the webinar, so If you all want to start typing your questions in the chat, we can ask them to Stacey I just want to Start off with maybe asking about, um, what are some like tips that you have for having for a student to make their application stand out, especially like within their essays?

Like, what are some things that. really gets an admissions officer’s attention?

Stacey: Yeah, that’s a great question. Um, so I don’t think there’s, you know, a magic bullet, right? There’s not this magic answer to, um, what will absolutely get you admitted to an institution, right? But above all else, I think the two things you want to make sure you’re doing in your application is one, being authentic, Right.

You do not want to look left and right and, and at this, try to match your application to your friend, uh, uh, in this realm or, or your cousin over here, you should be you because just because this student was admitted one year, doesn’t mean that the same exact student is going to be admitted the next year.

They could be looking for a whole different type of person. And when it comes to the admissions process, especially for these top tier or. Or ivy league or those schools with the very low admissions rates They’re so selective that the reasons why they’re picking their students are sometimes a little bit of a mystery to I shouldn’t say sometimes a lot of the times it’s a mystery to people, um, because they’re usually making decisions based on internal factors around the type of community they’re trying to build, they get a lot of excellent applicants.

And so they might be saying, okay, we need two students from the Midwest or a violinist or somebody interested in computer science. And you don’t know if you’re the person that’s going to fit that profile that they want for their community. And. It’s to your benefit to be authentic, because if that you are the right fit, you’re going to be admitted if you’re not, it’s really a disservice to you to not be authentic, because then you’re going to get to that institution and be unhappy.

There’s going to be a mismatch right between you and those resources. So I think authenticity should be a priority. And then also, Being focused, right? Admissions officers want to see clarity in thought when they’re reading their applications. They don’t have a lot of time to read between the lines. Be clear, concise, and focused in your writing, especially in articulating what you want to say.

why the institution is the right fit for you. It’s great to be creative. It’s, I’m not saying you can’t be creative on your applications, but the whole purpose of applying is to educate the reader about who you are and why you belong at their school. And you don’t want to lose that in being, you know, too verbose or too creative.

Um, and so just make sure you’re really asking yourself, am I? Making a good case for myself. And is that easy to read in potentially a four minute time period that the admissions officer has to read an application, right? Um, so those would be my two takeaways is. focus and clarity plus authenticity.

Sydney: Great advice.

Um, so I do want to remind folks that we can’t really get into specific situations that people might have or really explain like case by case questions, but I will ask, um, are there any situations where a student might want to leave off a particular, uh, summer experience that they have because it’s affiliated with the university that they’re applying to?

Stacey: So they want to leave off an experience

Sydney: from their college application

Stacey: because it’s affiliated with an institution they’re applying to. Right,

Sydney: right.

Stacey: I guess. I, I would not leave off any experiences that were important to your narrative, and especially so important to achieving your goals, right? And so if that program or experience was helpful in pursuing, in pursuit of, you know, who you are, your identity, and what you hope to do, should be included on your application.

I can imagine that students might be hesitant if they’re applying to just say MIT and they have like a Yale program right on their application. At the end of the day, it’s really about, okay, what was that experience and how did that impact you? And what did you take away from that? And what are your reflections on that?

And what skills do you have from that? Do I want you at my school because you had that experience plus all of these other things. That’s what the admissions officer is looking for. They’re not saying, Oh, well they did a program at Yale, so they’re probably not going to come here. I don’t think that’s, that’s typically the case.

Sydney: Yeah. Thank you for that. Um, okay. We have another question. Can you apply to multiple schools for early action? And if so, when is their deadline? Is it, February or January, like winter early action.

Stacey: Yeah, great question. So, um, the so you can apply early action to multiple schools. Their deadlines will vary.

So this is why research is important. You need sometimes early action deadlines for a school could be November 1st, other schools might have early action deadlines in December. And that will help understanding that will help you. Prioritize your applications and ensure that, you know, you have enough time to submit quality applications to all of your schools of interest.

Um, the deadlines are not for early action are not typically in January, February, they’re typically a lot earlier. Like I said, sometimes October, most often November, latest December, and you typically find out those decisions sometime between December and February.

Sydney: Great, thank you for that. Okay, we’re going to pause from the Q and a for just a second to talk a little bit about CollegeAdvisor. Um, so I just want to let everyone know that CollegeAdvisors team of over 300 former admissions officers and college admissions experts are all ready to help you and your family navigate this confusing, um, and kind of complicated college admissions process in one on one advising sessions.

We already helped over 6, 000 clients in their college journeys. And after analyzing some of our data since 2021, we found that CollegeAdvisor students are 3. 6 times more likely to get into Stanford University. 4. 1 times more likely to get into Vanderbilt University and 2. 7 times more likely to get into Harvard University.

So you can increase your odds and take the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for a free 45 minute to 60 minute strategy session with one of our admissions specialists by scanning that QR code on the screen. And during that call, we’ll review your current extracurricular list and kind of come up with an application strategy for you and discuss how that all aligns with your college list, your timeline, and talk about the tools that you need to stand out in a competitive admissions world.

So that QR code will stay on the screen for the rest of the Q& A, so keep submitting your questions and we will get right back to it. So, um, could you please again explain the difference between early action and early decision? A student just didn’t catch that part.

Stacey: Sure. Yes. So the key difference there, early action, you apply early and you find out early.

But when you find out your decision, you do not need to commit to that school automatically. You still have time to make that decision. Typically you have all the way until May 1st along with the rest of your regular decision school. So you just find out earlier and there is a slight increase in admissions chance as a result of applying early.

The difference between that and early decision is that you apply early. You find out early, but you must commit to that school if you get into that school. So again, slight admissions increase. You can imagine that’s a little bit higher even than early action, because you are saying, if you admit me, I will come.

And so for that reason, you cannot apply to multiple schools early decision. You can only apply to one institution early decision because you can’t commit to more than one school if you get an early decision. Early action, you can apply to multiple schools because you’re not committing to those schools and applying early.

Sydney: Thank you for that clarification. Um, how can students stand out to colleges if they don’t have many extracurricular activities or clubs, but GPA and test scores? Do you have any advice for students who might be in that situation?

Stacey: Yeah, um, so I think students who are typically in that situation are not giving themselves enough credit when it comes to what they consider extracurricular activities.

Um, it’s very rare for me to see a student who is exclusively focused on their academics and aren’t, do not have anything that they’re doing in their spare time to fill their spare time. Um, I think students don’t often count. Their jobs, if they have, if they’re working as extracurricular commitment, and that is absolutely an extracurricular that you need to include on your applications.

Um, if you are taking care of family members, if you, if that is the primary obligation for you, that is something to consider and it is an extracurricular category on the application process or in the application process. Um, And then there’s other things that you might be doing in your spare time that are not necessarily a sport, or a club, or anything formal, but maybe something that you do because you enjoy it.

I had a student who, um, really enjoyed high heels. And that was, you know, a really cool hobby for her. And I found out about this At the 11th hour, when we were writing our final essay, she wrote it about high heels and the history of high heels. And, um, that is a really interesting hobby, uh, that she spends her time studying and exploring.

And, um, that is an interesting factor, factor to incorporate into your application. So I think you really need to think more deeply about the things in your life that are important to you, that you value and, um, categorize those as something Um, and then you can also import to your application process. If you are having trouble with that soul searching, I’d suggest talking to family peers or guidance counselor who can give you that second pair of eyes on your own identity and help you parse that out.

And if you find that you’re really exclusively academically focused, even through all of that soul searching, even through all of that counseling, you definitely need to start thinking about how you’re going to spend your time meaningfully outside of your academics, because the academic component is just one component of the application process, and it would not be sufficient for many top tier institutions to Make a decision of admission.

They’re looking for students who are engaged with the world in a meaningful way and can contribute to their campuses, therefore in a meaningful way.

Sydney: Great. Um, could you talk a little bit about the athletic recruitment process and how that timeline may or may not align with like the timeline that we’ve discussed tonight? And like how grades and standardized test scores are kind of involved with athletic recruitment.

Stacey: That is a great question. So I must admit, this is an area that is not my area of expertise.

I don’t have as much, um, information around the sports recruitment process as it relates to the college admissions process, um, then that might vary from sport to sport as well. My advice would be to talk to your coaches as well as your guidance counselors who will likely have a lot more information around appropriate timelines and recruiting processes given your sports season, right?

So sports will have different seasons of relevance. Um, regardless of the sports recruitment process, you still need to apply to these institutions. You still need to prepare all the relevant application materials. Um, whether or not that is more of a formality or there, there might be some waiver of some requirements as a result of your recruitment.

I can’t speak to that. I think it will vary from institution to institution. And again, I would rely more heavily on. your coaches and your counselors to ensure that you’re following those appropriate steps.

Sydney: Thank you for that. Yeah. We also have the same question about our ROTC. Do you have any information about like what that timeline might look like by chance?

Stacey: So ROTC, I, I think it will depend if the institution is offering a program related to ROTC. Not every institution will maybe have that type of partnership. Um, but And so again, I think it’s worth having those conversations with admissions officers at your top tier or excuse me, your top choice institutions to ensure that they are offering that opportunity to you and understand what that timeline and those deadlines look like as a result of your interest in ROTC.

Sydney: Thank you. Um, okay. So what about financial aid? Um, do, does each college have its own separate financial aid form or application or is it just the FAFSA? And then when does that get filled out? What is that timeline like?

Stacey: Great question. So the FAFSA and another relevant document would be the CSS document.

profile are required of a lot of institutions for consideration, um, of financial aid. Um, this could be mainly need based aid, but also merit based aid through the CSS profile. Uh, and so you’re going to want to, again, in your research, this is why I suggest spreadsheets. I love spreadsheets. Maybe you’re not a spreadsheet person, but I find them incredibly helpful to stay organized.

Um, create your college list. And have these, this information, you know, create the colleges, create a column at your colleges, then create, um, a column with the deadlines you’re looking forward to, create a column about, you know, major choice, maybe anything related to sports or like ROTC, like we just talked about any of those factors that are important to you, but then also add data around their financial aid requirements.

And some of them will have scholarship programs or honors programs that have additional deadlines and requirements that you might want to be considered for. So it’s going to vary institution to institution. At minimum, I would prepare to submit the FAFSA and the CSS profile. Deadlines for, I don’t want to promise deadlines for those because they did vary so much last year from the usual.

Um, and they did not release as early as we anticipated. And so I’m not sure what that’s going to look like this year, but institutions will be on top of that. And so you do want to make sure you’re maintaining lines of communication around financial aid as it relates to each institution, because Again, they might have separate scholarships and honors programs and requirements of you essays, perhaps a view that not every institution requires.

And then also to make sure you’re submitting that PASSA or CSS and or CSS profile around the same time as your application so that when you do get a decision back, especially for early action and early decision schools, they can give you your financial aid package information at the same time. I know when I applied early action to Yale.

Um, I was able to get my financial aid package pretty much at the same time as my decision. It was very close, and That was a relieving factor for me, right? Because I was able to see whether or not I could afford the school. Um, so that’s definitely something you want to keep an eye on and maintain lists for.

Sydney: Great. Our next question says, if we are not able to visit a college in person, can we do a bit virtual tour instead? And I would also add like, how can students make the most out of those virtual experiences?

Stacey: Great question. So of course you can attend virtual tours if the institution offers that of you.

I would also suggest, um, attending any information sessions they might have. For the institution online. So you can ask questions on a virtual tour. You might not have that opportunity to ask live questions. And so information sessions give you that live opportunity to engage with an admissions officer, maybe a former student or current student to get the insider scoop, right?

That is another benefit to visiting college campuses in person is getting that one on one time with people associated with the school. Um, Who can really talk through the pros and cons of the institution. I will emphasize, I know it’s not always feasible for everybody to go on in person visits, especially if they’re applying all over the country.

But if you get into your top choice schools, and you’re deciding between a few, try your hardest to go to their admitted students days. Visiting a college campus can completely change your mind about a college campus. The feeling of it, I just can’t describe it in any other way. Um, I’ve actually, I actually removed schools from my list because I visited them and I did not like them.

So, and some institutions will offer sometimes stipends to visit their schools if it’s financially not affordable for you to do so before you make a decision. So, it’s something you can ask about. Um, but definitely, don’t make that decision in a vacuum. And if you can, again, it doesn’t have to be at the stage of application, but definitely before you matriculate, if you can visit the school.

Sydney: Okay. And we are running out of time, but, uh, we do have another question about early decision. So what happens if you do early decision and you are willing to commit, but only depending on financial aid? Are you able to decline if the money is not like affordable to you? Their package that they’re offering is not affordable.

Stacey: So that is a conversation you should have with that institution before you apply early decision. Um, what I will say is a lot of institutions who have early decision options are typically, um, Um, very generous with their financial aid packages because they’re typically top 20 or Ivy League schools, but if you’re applying early decision to a school that maybe doesn’t have such generous financial aid packages for their students, I think you need to have a conversation with that financial aid.

Um, office and project what a typical admissions or financial aid package would look like for somebody, um, they typically have financial aid calculators on their websites or, um, tuition calculators on their websites to give you a sense of that early on. But having that one on one communication will give you a better sense of what that’s going to look like for you and whether or not early decision is the right way for you to apply.

If you are hesitant because of financial aid, I might suggest applying regular decision. If you do get an early decision, um, acceptance and. You don’t, um, feel it’s affordable because of the financial aid package. I would appeal to the financial aid office and then talk to the admissions officers if you’re, you’re not able to amend that because that is of course an understandable reason why you would not commit to an institution.

Um, and probably one of the only reasons I think within reason, within reason, no pun intended, it’s redundant, but one of the only reasons why I think, um, an institution would understand that you wouldn’t. Move forward.

Sydney: Thank you for that clarification. I think I have had a lot of students that have that question as well. So, um, all right. And with that, we’re going to wrap up our webinar. So thank you again, Stacey for our conversation tonight on admission timelines and tips for rising juniors and seniors. Um, we do have a lot of other great webinars planned for the month of July.

Uh, so thank you all for joining.

Stacey: Thank you so much. Have a great night, everyone.