How to apply for college
Follow these 5 steps to get yourself organized so you can turn in your application and get educated!
How to Apply to College When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing
So you decided you’re going to apply to college: congrats! Deciding to pursue your education is a big deal and will make a difference for you, your family and community. You’re one step closer to getting a degree and becoming one degree hotter ;)
Applying to college is an exciting time, but it can be overwhelming too. Whether you are applying to just one college or several, you need to be organized to meet several requirements and deadlines.
And before we get started, let’s be clear about something: yes, applying to college is unnecessarily complicated, and no, you’re not crazy! Whether you are an adult who took a break from college or the first in your family to pursue college (or both!), know that you are not alone. I have helped hundreds of students apply to college and almost all of them felt overwhelmed at some point. I’m here to help you get through it- no judgment.
How to choose what colleges to apply to
Applying to college can be confusing. Follow this guide to learn how!
Step one: Decide where you will apply
You should start your journey by deciding what college or colleges you will apply to. You will need to figure out what kind of a degree or credential you want to get so you apply to the right type of college. If you want a bachelor’s degree, you should apply to a more traditional four-year college. But if you are looking for a shorter term degree, like a paramedic certificate or an associate’s degree in childhood development, a community college might be better for you.
Also think about what kind of school will work with your life. If you have to work and take care of kids, a college closer to home and with online classes might be right for you. Others may be interested in the more traditional route of moving away from home to live on a college campus. Either way, make sure the college’s structure and offerings work with the realities of your life.
You can dive deeper into the college application decision making process by checking out my blog (future link) on that topic!
Step two: List out all application requirements
For four-year colleges, like San Jose State University or Georgia State University, applications often require a lot more and can be a bit complicated or time-consuming. Some common requirements for a college application include the application itself, submitting test scores, submitting grades and transcripts, an essay, letters of recommendation, and more. Be really clear about what information you need to gather in order to submit your application and be eligible for admission! You wouldn’t send in an incomplete job application- don’t do that here either.
Take note of every single thing you need to submit. For some colleges, like community colleges, this can be simple. They normally require you to fill out an application with your basic information, like your name and address, and share your high school transcript or grades.
Step three: Note all important deadlines
It seems obvious, but make sure you put all important deadlines in your calendar and any tracking tools (like excel or a planner) you are using. Colleges often have deadlines for different parts of the application: one deadline for the actual application and other deadlines for additional documents (like school transcripts), testing, or other things. Starting with the deadlines allows you to work backwards and budget your time. That way you won’t be stressed and scrambling to submit an application minutes before the deadline!
Step four: Work on your application
Now that you know what application deadlines you are working with and what you need to turn in, you can get to actually filling out your application. College applications will start with asking for your basic information, like your name, date of birth, and address. Then they will often ask where you currently or previously went to school, what classes you took, what grades you received, etc. More involved applications will also ask you to submit a college application essay talking about yourself, your work or volunteer experience, and why you are a good fit for the college. These are most common for more competitive colleges and are not something you have to do for all colleges.
If you need to submit an essay, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to work on it! In my experience, college application essays take people a lot longer to write than they expect. Want to work together on your essay? Check out my services [future link]!
Step five: Review and submit your application!
Before hitting that submit button, go back through every page and read everything out loud to make sure you filled it out correctly. Once you are confident that everything has been filled out and uploaded correctly, take a deep breath, hit submit, and celebrate!
And that’s how you apply to college! While it’s technically not hard– “just” filling out an application– the college admissions process can be complicated and overwhelming because of how many things are asked of you. There are so many different deadlines and requirements, even if you are applying to just one college! Be proud of yourself for taking the first step in investing in your future!
What do you think? What was applying to college, whether that be as an adult going back to school or as a high school senior, like for you?
