The November Reset (and a reminder about our Application Tracker)
If your student is submitting applications with early deadlines, the last week of October probably felt like a month. Or a year. Many high school seniors submit their first round of applications on or before November 1st. We have a few tips and pointers for students and families as they pass this milestone.
Celebrate!
By definition, every senior applying to colleges is doing it for the first time. There are no past lessons learned to draw on and the process can feel very stressful for students and their families. If your student has submitted an application (or maybe a few) – celebrate, take some deep breaths, and take a (short) break! We believe that celebration is in order no matter how smooth or rocky the path was.
Regroup
November 1st is a big first deadline, but most students are not finished. Another common deadline is just a few weeks away, on November 15th. Others are in December, January, and even later. This is a good time for your student to regroup. They should update their application tracker (if your student doesn’t have one, you can grab ours), with the following information:
Indicate which applications are complete.
Double check the deadlines for the remaining applications.
Update work plan to include all outstanding tasks - supplemental essays, test score submission, letters of recommendation, etc. - and prioritize according to due date.
If your student is interested in applying to Honors Colleges, they should be checking those application processes separately as most colleges do not use Common App information for Honors College purposes. These applications should be added to the tracker.
Be open to adjusting the college list. Your student is learning at every step and might re-evaluate some earlier choices.
Encourage
Your student might not feel this way, but getting those first applications in is the hardest part of the application process. Encourage your student to keep on rolling – they will find that writing additional essays is a bit easier with the completed essays fresh in their minds. Supplemental essays will take up the bulk of their time from this point on, and there are great resources to help students write those. A few of our favorite resources follow:
Finally, there are plenty of students who have not submitted any applications at this point, and that’s okay! They haven’t missed the boat, and it is not too late to get started.
As always, our goal at College Parents of America is to support families by providing clear, no nonsense senior year guideposts. Good luck to all students and families – the finish line is approaching!