1. First thing’s first, I want you to think about when you think you should start the whole application process. Go ahead, pick a date. Got it?
Ok, now the date you should actually start the application process is about 2-3 months before the date you chose, if not sooner. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a lifelong procrastinator; hell, I could write 100 articles on procrastination alone if I ever got around to it – but that fact does not make what I’m saying any less relevant.
Getting recommendations, writing entrance essays, and trying to compile a list of all your past employers and their contact info all take a ridiculously long time, so just do yourself a favor and pretend the due date for your application is far sooner than it actually is.
2. If your list of potential colleges is too long (10+), narrow it down so that you save time and money by not applying to colleges you aren’t considering as seriously as others.
Ask yourself if you really want to go there or you just put it on your list because you heard it had a large population of binge-drinking, hot coeds…
…actually, keep that one on the list.
3. It’s best to start an excel file or spreadsheet of your finalized potential colleges.
Put 1 college per line and then label the columns with things like “Application links”, “Due date”, “Tuition Cost”, etc…so you can compare all of your choices quickly and easily. Bookmarking any and every page you come across that has one shred of information on it will waste hours of your time and be hard to find when you need it.
Put the Excel file on your desktop and add info to it whenever you come across some aspect or characteristic by which you want to compare all of your potential colleges.
4. I’m kind of embarassed to admit this, but I chose my college using primarily www.princetonreview.com ratings and a few Google searches.
And I apparently disregarded what little research I did, because I still chose to go to the college whose dining hall was rated #1 on Princeton Review in the “Is it Food?” category, which meant I voluntarily chose to go to the college with the worst food in the country.
Write down or create a list in Word of the colleges that have a few of the top characteristics you’re looking for (size, student:faculty ration, location, academic prowess, etc). For instance, even though my college apparently had nasty food, it ranked highly in other areas I considered to be important, such as intramural activity participation and some certain social categories, which I decided were good enough to offset the occasional soggy slice of pizza.
In Applying to College, Part 2, we’ll discuss how you can find the right college for you by answering a few simple questions that put your college search in perspective. Look out for it in the next few days. Good luck and happy searching.
Tags: applying to college, applying to colleges, binge, choices, colleges list, dining hall, due date, embarassed, employment history, food category, google, google searches, hot coeds, long time, princeton review, procrastination, shred, spreadsheet, time and money, tuition cost
