Your College Admissions Timeline

Webinar Transcription

2026-7-15-Your College Admissions Timeline

Anesha: [00:00:00] Hi, everyone, and welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha Grant. I’m a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor, and I am your moderator today. Uh, today’s webinar will be focusing on your, “College Admissions Timeline.” Before we get started, to orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re gonna start with a presentation, and then we’ll open up to answer your questions in a live Q&A.

Anesha: On the sidebar, you can download our slides under the Handouts tab, and you can start submitting your questions whenever you get ready in the Q&A tab. But first, let’s meet our presenter, Stacey Tuttle. Hey, Stacey. How are you doing today?

Stacey: Good. Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here. So I’m Stacey Tuttle.

Stacey: Um, I’m a former admissions officer for the Yale University School of Public Health. Um, my alma mater is also Yale University, and I’m so excited to talk to you, uh, tonight about college admissions timelines.

Anesha: Awesome. Before we let you get started, we’re gonna do a quick poll just to see who all is in the room with us.

Anesha: So, um, if you are a parent or a teacher, you can go ahead and select other. And if you are a student, select the grade that you [00:01:00] will be going into for the fall. Um, and as we’re waiting for some responses to come in, um, I guess I’ll ask when did you get started on your college application process when you were applying to college, Stacie?

Stacey: Okay, now you’re just testing my memory. I don’t think that’s, I don’t think that’s the, a fair question today. No, I’m, I’m totally kidding. So, uh, when did I start? I feel like I knew… So I think that there’s some, a subset of students who kind of go into college knowing-

Anesha: Mm-hmm …

Stacey: that they’re going to apply to X, Y, Z schools.

Stacey: Mm-hmm. Um, I was very locally focused. I wanted to stay close to home, so that made things a little bit easier for me in terms of narrowing down my list. I didn’t really go- wanna go beyond, like, one or two states from my hometown. Right. Um, so I, I think I knew pretty early which colleges I wanted to apply to.

Stacey: But in terms of, like, really thinking about the, the college application process, I would say it was probably the summer and spring between junior, senior [00:02:00] year. Um, because that’s when, you know, guidance counselors were really talking to us about it. That’s when we were really thinking about test taking and, and, um, college trips and things of the, the like.

Stacey: So I would say that’s probably around when I started talking, thinking about it a lot. And in retrospect, I probably could have started even earlier to stay organized. So we can talk about that more today.

Anesha: No, I mean, you, you were better than I did. I started October 15th. So um- I mean, and

Stacey: we got into school.

Stacey: I mean, somehow, right?

Anesha: It worked out, but that, it was very late.

Stacey: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anesha: In retrospect. It was

Stacey: very stressful that way.

Anesha: Yeah, yeah. Crazy, crazy two weeks- Yeah … ’cause I started October 15th to apply early. Um, so- Yeah … a hot mess I was. Um, but so don’t be like me. Be like Stacie. Yeah. Or even leverage more of her tips today.

Anesha: All right, I will stop talking. We’re gonna go ahead and close our poll. Or before I stop talking, I’ll just give some context about who’s in the room with us. So we have about 140 folks with us. We have three eighth graders who are getting on top of it. We have two ninth graders who are [00:03:00] also getting a head start.

Anesha: 11th, 10, 11th, 10th graders, uh, 29 11th graders, and 52 12th graders. Okay. And about 43 parents and teachers. So a good spread, but the majority of 11th and 12th graders with us today. Great. Um, if that helps with context. All right, I will stop talking, hand it over to you, and be back a little bit later for Q&A.

Stacey: Sounds great. So those of you in the room ranging across all of the grades, um, and all of the backgrounds, you’re still in the right place. So we have a lot to talk about across the timeline, and I hope you can find content today that will be relevant to your circumstances and future ones. Uh, so why is it important to have a timeline?

Stacey: First and foremost, I would say this allows you to prepare your applicant profile over the span of many years as opposed to over the span of a few months. So I, uh, sometimes when I’ve worked with students, um, they’re in, say, junior or senior year, um, and they’re sort of in a little bit of panic. Like, “I haven’t really been doing a lot of [00:04:00] activities.

Stacey: I, I feel like my resume’s not very strong. What can I do now? What am I doing?” Um, and I will say, you know, if you’re in that boat right now, if you’re kind of late in your high school career and you’re feeling like you need to build up your profile, there are ways to do that. Um, but it is certainly much easier to, to start thinking about sustainable long-term activities and exploring those activities and maintaining that, um, extracurricular profile and then the, uh, looking into courses that might be interesting to you and aligned with your personal goals.

Stacey: All of that is easier when you start early. So that is, I think, one of the biggest benefits of having a timeline early on in your application process. It also allows you time for thoughtfulness in that application process and your college research. So, you know, if you are making decisions at the 11th hour, you may be doing a hodgepodge of quick research about colleges as opposed to maybe taking time to go visit or attend an information session or really think about what your priorities are for applying [00:05:00] to college.

Stacey: Um, and so having more time to think that through and explore which colleges are the right fit for you, but also how you want to present yourself on your application and how you want to organize your application process, that is so much easier, right? When, when you do have a timeline and you understand where you are going at every step of that timeline and what you need to do.

Stacey: It also allows appropriate time for test-taking. Uh, based on the timeline that you’re currently in, how much time do you have to take tests? How much time do you have to prepare? When should you start studying? When should you start preparing in order to be able to take those tests confidently and successfully?

Stacey: Uh, that is better facilitated with that timeline. Staying organized, avoiding missing deadlines, of course, a major benefit to having a timeline, being able to track those deadlines, understand where they fall, um, and staying on top of them. When possible, also taking advantage of those early application deadlines.

Stacey: We’ll talk about that more later. There are [00:06:00] application deadlines that are earlier in the cycle, and you may want to take advantage of those, and there’s also financial aid and scholarship opportunities that you don’t want to miss because you did not organize your timeline appropriately or early enough.

Stacey: And of course, having a timeline makes the college application process less overwhelming. So I’m hoping that you can use some of these tools today to your advantage. What should I be doing, for those in the room, in ninth and 10th grade? Right? It feels very early to start thinking about the college application process, but kudos to you in the room who may already be thinking about it in that stage of your high school career.

Stacey: Um, first and foremost, I would say start building out your extracurricular profile. And so really think about those activities that are being presented to you. There may be, you know, an activities fair at your school, or there may be a club fair where you can go to that and sort of explore and think about what are you passionate about?

Stacey: What are things that might be able to speak to your interests and allow you to explore those passions? Um, start, you know, diving into [00:07:00] those activities and, and understanding what parts of it you like, what parts of it you don’t, and maybe that will lend itself to pursuing other similar activities later Um, it will also be a good time for you to find sustainable activities that you can continue through your high school career.

Stacey: Um, and so think about activities that you can do periodically over the course of high school year after year. That looks really favorable on an application to seen that s- see that sustainability, to see your commitment to an activity over time. Um, and then also look at activities that can help you further understand your future academic and career goals.

Stacey: So you might not know what you wanna study now. You might not know what you want to do later in life. If someone told me in ninth or 10th grade, “I definitely wanna do this later,” you know, that’s a wonderful thing. I wanna be a doctor, I wanna be a lawyer, I wanna be an artist. Whatever that looks like, that is a wonderful, wonderful thing, but it is very, very likely going to change.

Stacey: Um, a lot of folks change their mind between ninth [00:08:00] and, grade and 12th grade. Some folks change their mind after applying to college and getting into college, and they start, you know, on their college campus, and they think to themselves, “You know, this major isn’t really the right fit for me.” Um, and so it’s okay that those interests evolve, but this is a great time early in your high school career to really look at the things that speak to you academically and ask yourself, “Do I wanna study that later?

Stacey: Let me, you know, dive into that, that club or that activity or talk to that instructor and see if I can learn more, see if this really jives with my interests. And then what careers align with those interests that I’m seeing academically?” So things to really think about early as opposed to later. Um, and it would inform your later major choices and academic choices on your applications.

Stacey: Um, also, at early in this, uh, at this stage of your high school career, you may not have leadership opportunities, but in sustaining activities, you may have leadership opportunities later. [00:09:00] So you might be a member of a club at first, but maybe later you could be a chair or a president or vice president of a club, and that will look really positive on an application, so building up to that leadership opportunity is great.

Stacey: And then also you can think about how you’re gonna spend your summers proactively, um, in a meaningful way. Are you thinking that you might wanna apply to opportunities that have application deadlines, and so you should be thinking about those early? Are there opportunities maybe in sophomore summer or junior summer that you want to pursue and prepare for in advance?

Stacey: This is the time to start thinking about that. In addition, um, this is another, uh, great opportunity for you to focus on your academics, period. So thinking about your overall academic excellence, your overall academic profile, studying regularly, participating in class, and realizing that that’s something that you should be sustaining throughout your high school career, right?

Stacey: Um, setting that foundation early will set you up for success later and allow you to [00:10:00] take more challenging coursework potentially later that will look favorable on college applications, um, as well as coursework that may really help you better understand your future interests, your career, and those academic goals that you might have.

Stacey: There may be coursework that is not available to you maybe in ninth or tenth grade, but if you take certain prerequisites, you might be able to take it in junior or senior year, like a nutrition class or a hi- a- an advanced chemistry class. Whatever that looks like, now is the time to start building toward that, that, uh, curricular goal.

Stacey: And then finally, building relationships and networks. This is really important. Talking to teachers, talking to your school counselors, talking to your academic mentors to build those relationships now because those people will not only be, um, helpful in informing college application decisions, you know, they may be able to tell you about certain schools, certain, um, advantages to certain schools in the area or schools they went to.

Stacey: They might be able to help inform your decisions [00:11:00] academically, career-wise later because of their own experience, and then also great opportunities for letters of recommendation later. It’s never too early to start. Um, and I, I should caveat, you don’t have to ask somebody for a letter of recommendation in ninth or tenth grade, but it’s about building those relationships and having somebody in your life early who can speak to that longevity of your high school career, that can really speak to your qualities and write that meaningful letter later.

Stacey: So the summer between your sophomore and junior years maximize your summer is my feedback here and I would say do so without burning out. I know that’s easier said than done, um, but some opportunities to consider in summer are practicing for your standardized tests. Um, I actually think that this is one of the more important things to be doing early in your summers, um, because there’s no better time where you are not maybe so [00:12:00] distracted by your academic demands, your extracurricular demands during the academic year, and you can really focus on the test itself.

Stacey: Practicing, seeing which questions you’re struggling with, focusing on improving those questions or those sections of the test, understanding which test might be the right fit for you, the SAT or the ACT, and, and really taking that time to carve out study for the test. So often with my students, I’ll suggest carving out S- a couple hours every Sunday or a couple hours every day to SAT or ACT prep, and this will give you plenty of time to practice such that you feel more confident going into the actual tests when you do take them.

Stacey: I would also say spend time pursuing meaningful activities in the summer. Um, there might be internships or other related opportunities that you- programs that you applied to earlier in the year, um, that you’re pursuing in the summer because you, you were ga- gaining admission into that opportunity, and so you decided [00:13:00] to pursue that.

Stacey: I personally in the summer, I always worked, you know. I always had a job. That was just a fact of life for me, and so work was something that definitely occupied a lot of my time, as did sports. So oftentimes there are, um, kinda sports prep or other practices or, or things of that nature that need to happen in the summer in advance of the academic year, and so focused on sports, um, or sports camps or sports opportunities.

Stacey: That is also something I seen very often. If you’re not, you know, well, uh, participating in an internship or a job that you have or sports, um, and maybe you’re not sure where to turn, think about creating an opportunity for yourself or looking for volunteer opportunities. So think about volunteer options in your community.

Stacey: Are there volunteer op- opportunities at your local hospital or your local library or your local camp? Um, are there opportunities for you to engage with somebody in your network, like a mentor who’s doing work that’s really interesting to [00:14:00] you, um, somebody that you can shadow and learn more about potential career opportunities?

Stacey: Are there opportunities for you to do something that you’ve always wanted to do that you just don’t have time to do during the academic year? So, um, you might have heard the phrase passion project thrown around in this regard. I’ve had students create podcasts or start a jewelry-making business or, um, offer a free nutrition seminar at their local library.

Stacey: Uh, so really think about creatively what would you like to do with your spare time, and how can you give back to perhaps your community or a group in a meaningful way in doing so? Um, create a resume is another great, um, opportunity in the summer when you have time because later when you apply to colleges, they may actually, some, not all, may require a copy of your resume.

Stacey: So to build one early allows you to further add to it later, and then you’re [00:15:00] not creating one, uh, brand new in the moment when you’re applying to college. You may also have summer opportunities later that require a resume for applications, and so having that resume in your back pocket, something that you can update regularly, will be an extreme advantage for you in not only the college application process but in any application process that may require a resume.

Stacey: And this would be an ideal time to start one because you likely have some significant extracurricular background at this stage, and so you can actually fill that in, um, and have a pr- a pretty robust resume at that stage. Um, this is a great time also to visit colleges and work on that preliminary college list, um, with yourself, with friends, with family.

Stacey: Um, it’s a great time to take those trips because you do have downtime, and, you know, it’s sunny and it’s lovely in many places, and so you get to see camp- campus in a really nice light. [00:16:00] Um, I remember doing this myself, and I found it to be very fun and informative, and I will say, you know, it both told me which colleges would be a good fit for me, but also which colleges would not be a good fit for me.

Stacey: I was able to see, you know, I don’t really love the way this campus life feels, or I don’t really l- like the opportunities offered here, and so I was able to start not only confirming which colleges would remain on my list, but also which colleges to remove. Now, this is not always reasonable. You know, if you want to apply to a college in California and you live in Connecticut, you’re maybe not going to be traveling to California in your summers.

Stacey: But perhaps this is the opportunity to attend a virtual fair or seminar or information session or something of the like, so that you can better inform your decisions, um, from afar. Also, start looking forward to scholarships and financial aid. Um, there are, you know, financial websites for many of these institutions, and you can review those and [00:17:00] see what that timeline looks like and what they’re requiring of you.

Stacey: And you can also start thinking about outside scholarship opportunities and what those deadlines look like, so you can stay organized and start, um, creating time- that timeline for yourself, like we’re talking about here. Optional, I would say consider summer coursework that may be helpful to your career academic goals.

Stacey: I say this is optional because often there is a cost associated with summer coursework, and that’s not always reasonable for everybody to afford. I know I could not do it when I was enrolled in hi- uh, in high school way back when. So don’t feel like you, there’s pressure to do this, but if it is an opportunity that is presented to you, it would be valuable in terms of informing your future career and academic goals.

Stacey: And it w- would be something you could put on a resume or a college application. Now, don’t forget to take downtime for yourself. This is absolutely a time that you can spend enjoying your summer, but I would say balance that with the test prep, with college [00:18:00] exploration, you know, with pursuing some meaningful opportunities.

Stacey: I wouldn’t say, you know, sit by the beach for three months straight if you can help it. Um, but definitely take time during your summer to go on vacation. Um, don’t, you don’t have to turn to Mom and Dad and say, “I can’t go o- go to the Bahamas with you because I need to SAT test prep.” Please don’t do that.

Stacey: I definitely think you should take time for yourself when you can. Junior fall, so September to January of your junior year. This is a time to continue the college exploration process. And so, uh, you’ve visited colleges, maybe done some research, maybe have solidified a pre- preliminary list. Now, at this stage, I would advise you to set your priorities based on that research and clarify your deal breakers.

Stacey: So what I mean by priorities are those things that you absolutely want in a college. You know, and to that end, I think the top two [00:19:00] factors that usually rise to the top of student lists are financial aid packages and, um, major or program availability, so academic availability. Because of course we want college to be affordable, but we also want to ensure that academically it’s going to help advance your academic and career goals, right?

Stacey: So if a deal breaker for you is that a college doesn’t have a nursing major, then maybe that college is not supposed to be on your list. Um, you may have a number of majors of interest to you. I would make sure that any of the colleges on your list have at least a few of those majors of interest so that you can guarantee when you get to that campus you have a few options for study for something that would genuinely be interesting to you Um, I would also focus on excelling in coursework and maintaining your GPA.

Stacey: Of course, you know, this is a crucial time for, um, you to demonstrate your academic eco- excellence to [00:20:00] schools and, and they’re going to be seeing your junior year coursework and grades, um, when y- they’re reviewing your applications. I would also take your standardized tests. This is going to be a very exciting time.

Stacey: Um, I typically advise that students take their tests, uh, no more than two to three times because at some point there’s this test exhaustion, right? You’re trying to take it so many times to increase your score, but at the end, it’s sort of averaging out at where you’re going, your score is going to lie.

Stacey: So two to three times seems optimal to that, to, uh, to that end, without exhausting you completely when you need to be doing other things, right? Uh, and so there’s only so much you can, you can do to study. There’s only so many times you can take that test. Um, and junior fall is usually one of the first times I would recommend doing it.

Stacey: Um, an additional few times might be in junior spring, and then senior summer or fall. Another, um, note here is just to continue [00:21:00] pursuing those meaningful extracurricular activities that we talked about earlier. And, and when you’re doing so, consider the level of impact that you’re having for, with those activities, either on yourself, so your own personal development, or on the community that you’re involved in.

Stacey: What are you doing to make a difference in that community through the activity that you’re pursuing? Also, consider your level of engagement. So what is the level at which you’re participating in this, in your community? Is it at the local level? Is it at the regional level? Is it at the national or international level?

Stacey: As you can imagine, the higher level of engagement, the more favorable that is on a college application. So having a variety of activities at a variety of levels of engagement is favorable as well. Um, length of commitment, we talked about this earlier, where sustained activities, um, look favorable on a college application as well.

Stacey: Relevance to your academic and career goals is [00:22:00] of course very important, um, without losing sight of those passions, those things that you really love to do. Just a water. One second

Stacey: And then of course junior fall is a great time to start preparing plans and applications for summer opportunities again because of course you do have another summer and usually those deadlines for summer opportunities are in late fall, early winter. So moving into junior spring, February to May, this is a great time to fine-tune your college list.

Stacey: You’ll discuss that with your counselors and family and trusted advisors in your life. Um, they’ll of course wanna give feedback, but make sure you’re staying true to yourself and your interests. And of course, consider the majors of interest for you at all of your top choice institutions and make sure that they have academic programs that you’re actually interested in studying.

Stacey: Um, this is also a great time to identify potential letters of recommendation. [00:23:00] So, um, this is kinda capitalizing on those early relationships that you are already starting. And it’s also much easier to have these conversations in person. So a lot of the time students wait to ask for letters of recommendation in August, September of the college application process, and, um, it’s a little late.

Stacey: You know, maybe the people that they were asking are already saturated with, um, requests from other students, and so they don’t have time to write that letter, or maybe it’s impersonal. You know, y- you’re really asking over email, and they might not feel invested. Whereas if you ask them in person in junior spring, they may feel, “Okay, they bothered to come talk to me about this letter of reference, and I’m really interested in doing this for them and supporting them.”

Stacey: So it’s a great time to talk to letters recommendation. I’m sorry, one moment. I just wanna grab another sip of water[00:24:00]

Stacey: Thank y’all for bearing with me. So after you, um, talk to your potential letters of reference, um, I would recommend later in the summer following up with a copy of your resume and just a reminder about your conversation, as well as maybe a copy of your personal statement at that point, and we can talk about that more in just a few bullets.

Stacey: Um, another opportunity in spring of junior year is to take that standardized test again if you’re feeling like you need to retake it, or maybe if you haven’t taken it at all, now is the, a good time to take it for the first time. Continue, um, maintaining your coursework and extracurriculars. Solidify those summer plans.

Stacey: So at this point, you probably have heard back from opportunities you’ve applied to, and if you got into the program or not, you can then pivot and decide, “Okay, if I [00:25:00] did get in, am I gonna go? Or if I didn’t get in, what else would I be interested in doing instead?” So solidifying those summer plans in your spring of junior year is going to be a major focus.

Stacey: And then this is a great time, believe it or not, to begin working on the personal statement. So the personal statement, um, on the common application tends to have very similar prompts from year to year. They don’t tend to change much, if at all. Um, and in fact, those are, have been released, and I don’t think they’ve changed since last year.

Stacey: So for those seniors and rising seniors in the room, you have those available to you now. And without fail, there’s always a six choose your own adventure type prompt where you can pretty much write about anything you’d like to write about. And so even if the prompts change from year to year, you could still use that kinda choose your own adventure using a prior year’s prompt, um, if you had chosen that during your early writing.

Stacey: Uh, and the reason [00:26:00] why you start this early is because your best draft is never going to be your draft that you write at the 11th hour on, on the night before the application’s due. On average, I would say I probably work through roughly eight personal statement drafts with students. Um, and that’s an average, right?

Stacey: It’s not true for everyone. Um, some people are stronger writers than others. Um, but also it’s really just a, a part of the writing process to go through drafts of anything. And so it’s not, you know, don’t, don’t feel like, you know, you’re failing as a writer or as an applicant because you have to go through drafts.

Stacey: That is a natural thing to do. And I would also advise get- getting a second pair of eyes, and maybe even a third pair of eyes, on your personal statement before you submit it. So this gives you plenty of time to write up that first draft, workshop it, edit it, go through it with some trusted folks in your life, and then have that ready to submit when it comes time.

Stacey: The summer [00:27:00] between your junior and senior year is another time to maximize, right? So at this point, you’re gonna be finalizing that college list, and you’re gonna, m- you know, I would recommend… I love spreadsheets, so I’d recommend creating a spreadsheet of your top colleges that you’ll be applying to and the relevant deadlines that you’ll be using to apply to those colleges.

Stacey: Separately, you could also prepare a scholarship and a financial aid list with those deadlines so that you’re prepared for those. Um, you can take any finalized standardized tests, or final standardized tests, excuse me, and, um, I would say this is the last real opportunity to do that before you have to submit your college applications.

Stacey: Fall of senior year is a potential opportunity, but I think that’s, you know, cutting it very, very close, and I would advise trying to do th- this earlier if you can so you can meet early application deadlines if those are of interest to you. We’ll talk about that more in a minute. Spend those, that time pursuing those meaningful activities.

Stacey: We talked about this earlier. [00:28:00] Continue working on and finalizing your personal statement, and actually, you can begin preparing for potential supplemental essays. So now that you have finalized your college list, you know which colleges have supplemental essays based on prior year information. Now, supplemental essay prompts can change from year to year, and they do often, but they might not be super different from year to year, or maybe they won’t change at all.

Stacey: So you can take a look at prior year supplements and start drafting or preparing for those if you have time, again, with a huge caveat that those can change from year to year. That said, even if you’re preparing a supplement for, say, Yale, and they change that supplement prompt, maybe the content is applicable to another school’s supplement, and so you can still use that content.

Stacey: Um, some schools will often al- ask similar questions, um, but not across the board, so it’s good to have that practice [00:29:00] anyway. And then this is a good time, I alluded earlier, to follow up with the writers of your letters of recommendation So August. Most applications open in August. Um, and this is inclusive of the Common App.

Stacey: There are some individual schools or school systems, like the University of California school system, um, I think MIT, a few other schools might have individual college application systems. Common App is a very popular one, um, and the Coalition App is another one to keep in mind. The deadlines that I was alert- alluding to earlier, there are different types of deadlines to keep in mind when applying to your colleges and universities.

Stacey: So early action and early decision are two early, um, deadline categories. Early action is when you apply early and therefore receive a decision early. This is very attractive to students because there’s no commitment [00:30:00] involved in doing this, but there is a slight increase in, in chance of admission associated with applying early, and you find out early, which is great.

Stacey: I did this, um, way back when, when I applied to Yale, and it was a great option for me because I knew where I was going in December, and I was done. So it was really fantastic to have that available to me. Early decision, meanwhile, is you apply early, and again, there’s a slight increase in chance of admission in doing so, but when you find out early, you are also committing early.

Stacey: So you’re saying, “If I apply to your school and I get in, I’m going.” So you do need to keep that in mind. It’s a binding decision, and therefore, you can only apply early decision to one school. Um, and so not… This is not the best option for everyone, but it’s something to keep in mind. December to March are the regular decision deadlines.

Stacey: Most are in January, and then there’s also something called early decision two. So that tends to be around the same time as regular decision, and this [00:31:00] is basically an opportunity for students who found out that they didn’t get into their original early decision school, that they, uh, uh, that it’s an opportunity for them to apply early decision to another school.

Stacey: Or maybe you missed the early decision deadlines, the first set of deadlines for early decision schools. Now you can apply early decision two at a later point. And again, same concept. You apply, you find out a decision, and then you’re committing as a result of that decision. And again, a slight increase in chance of admission associated with that.

Stacey: September to April i are opportunities for rolling decision schools to allow for their applications, and you can imagine that rolling is exactly how it’s, um, uh, rolling decisions and, um, applications are as implied. You apply on a rolling basis, and you find out decisions on a rolling basis So this means that if you find out in September, or if you apply in September, you may find out in September that you got into that institution.

Stacey: But you [00:32:00] can also apply in April and then find out you got in April that you, that you got into that institution. Now keep in mind, even rolling decision schools fill up, and so they fill up their admitted student spots. Therefore, you may not have as high of a chance of getting into that institution if you apply too late.

Stacey: So it is something to keep in mind. Early action decision notices usually come out between December and February. Early decision two and regular decision notices usually come out between February and April. And of course, make sure you’re considering the financial aid documentation deadlines that you need to comply with alongside your applications themselves Senior fall, um, September to January, so you’re applying to colleges according to their deadlines, right?

Stacey: And th- they are collecting, for reference, personal and demographic information, so you’ll wanna sit down and fill that information out at your convenience. Transcripts and academic information, right? So you’ve been building to [00:33:00] this point to demonstrate the coursework that you’ve taken, um, that you’ve excelled in that coursework, and here it is.

Stacey: You’re putting it all on paper. The standardized test scores that you took in the past, you’ll be submitting those if the school requires those of you. There are some schools that are still test optional, but many, many more schools are, um, requiring test scores now. So it’s really important we prepare for those.

Stacey: Um, your list of activities or, and/or resume will be required of you. There’s usually an honors and awards section or an award type section that you’ll be completing. Letters of recommendation, we’ve been talking about that. Your personal statement is, uh, that big written component that the majority of schools will be seeing, and then supple- supplemental questions, if applicable.

Stacey: Interviews, so this is really interesting. When I applied, interviews were a big part of the application process, and so I did interview during my application procedure, and I do think I made a huge difference in, in my admission to the, the university. Um, nowadays, [00:34:00] interviews are far less common. Not every student who will be admitted will have an interview.

Stacey: Um, and oftentimes they are informational in nature. Your interview, um, your interviewer, if, if you will, um, c- is not always an admissions officer. It might be an alumnus or, um, a current student. And so it, it looks very different than it did in the past. But you should be prepared for those opportunities and practice, um, your interview skills regularly.

Stacey: So it is something that you may need to do as part of the application process. Financial documentation, again, you’ll need to be submitting that alongside your application materials. And this is just a friend- friendly reminder to maintain your grades because in senior year you will be sending mid-year reports to the universities that you apply to, and they will see your senior fall grades.

Stacey: So just keep that in mind. Don’t, you know, slack on, on your grades at that point. And some university do require that you maintain, um, your grades and your GPA [00:35:00] in order to matriculate at their schools, even after they’ve admitted you. So just keep that in mind. Senior spring. Um, at this point, you’d finish any remaining applications if you have them.

Stacey: Uh, you would also send letters of continued interest to any schools that you were deferred or wait listed at. Um, so at this point, you’ll have heard back from early decision, early action, maybe an early decision two schools, and they will have told you whether you were deferred, um, to the, the regular pool, wait listed, or denied.

Stacey: Um, then for your regular decision schools, you may also, enrolling decision schools, you may also be hearing back if you’ve been waitlisted or denied. So based on that population of schools that you’ve heard back about, if any are not admission, full admission decisions, um, you may consider writing that continued interest letter, which will be favorable during that second review of your application in the [00:36:00] waitlisted or the deferred pool.

Stacey: Um, once you get all of your admissions decisions and financial aid packages, um, you can consider those with your family, your counselors, and, and the people in your life that you trust, so that ultimately you can make that final decision. I would also highly recommend visiting your top choices if admitted for their admitted students days.

Stacey: Most schools will have some version of an admitted student day or weekend, and it allows you to go to the school, experience life there, sleep over potentially. Um, it’s a lovely, um, experience, and it gives you firsthand insight into what it will be like if you were to matriculate at that school. And then no- and then finally, you’re gonna notify your final choice and submit a deposit usually by May 1st.

Stacey: Over to you, Anesha.

Anesha: Thanks, Stacey, for such a detailed presentation. Um, so we are gonna switch to the Q&A portion of our session tonight. That is the end of our webinar presentation. I will ask that folks not send, uh, chats directly to me, uh, with your [00:37:00] questions, but submit your questions in the Q&A tab. Um, we hope you found the information helpful.

Anesha: Where you can, just as a reminder… Sorry, we both need water today. I

Stacey: know.

Anesha: Just a reminder, you can download-

Stacey: The air quality’s not great where I am right now- Ooh … so I’m gonna blame it on that.

Anesha: Um, well, I, I’m just sick, but, um, Um, I hope, uh, we hope you found the information helpful, and you can download the slides under the Handouts tab.

Anesha: Um, and also the session is being recorded and will be available on the CollegeAdvisor website tomorrow. So moving on to live Q&A, the way that it will work, I will read through the questions that you submitted in the Q&A tab. I’ll paste them into the public chat so that others can see them, and then read them aloud so that Stacey will have an opportunity to answer.

Anesha: If your Q&A tab is not letting you submit questions, double-check that you joined through the webinar. Um, you joined through the custom link, um, in your email and not through the CollegeAdvisor webinar landing page. You might have to log out, log back in, um, in order to submit your questions. If that does not work, just know that the webinar is being recorded, so you can view it at a later time.

Anesha: [00:38:00] Okay. My first question for you, which I think is a realistic one, and I believe is from a parent from the tone of it. Um, uh, they said, “These are all great tips, but I also wonder how doable they all are. I have a rising senior who has been incredibly involved/busy throughout high school, and this level of engagement has made it practically impossible to focus on a college list, visits, resume, personal statement, et cetera.

Anesha: How should a very busy, high-achieving student prioritize the items on the list, um, knowing that there are only 24 hours in the day and sleep and downtime are also very critical?”

Stacey: Wow, this is a great question, and one I strongly identify with. Um, the… Not to make jokes. I am absolutely serious. I do recall, um, personally if I might share, being in high school and- Being very distraught about having to say no to an opportunity, um, because I finally did have to say no.

Stacey: I did have to say no. There was … I was doing too much, um, and I just [00:39:00] couldn’t do this additional thing, and I thought it was gonna absolutely make or break my college application, and it did not, of course, in the end. Um, now it’s easier said than done for a very high achieving involved student to tell them, “We need to cut back.

Stacey: We need to figure out where, you know, you’re going, your sleep is gonna come first, and then, you know, your activities and, and academics will come thereafter.” Um, so what, as a parent, one thing I would do is I would sit down with my senior and ask them, you know, “What, where can we cut hours,” right? “So do you ha- what is crucial for you to maintain at this moment?”

Stacey: Um, and it, it’s gonna be hard because I don’t know, um, if you’re a senior and you will feel confident in, okay, can we remove this and not have it be to the detriment of our college application, right? Um, but I do think, you know, the activities that are maybe not as in alignment with their passions, maybe not as demonstrative of their academic or career goals, those are things that [00:40:00] maybe they could, um, consider doing away with or cutting down hours on.

Stacey: Um, I would also ask them to meet with their guidance counselor to consider whether or not it would be possible to, um Decrease the level at which they’re taking certain coursework, and again, focusing on the coursework that is not as important to their academic and career goals in doing so. Um, is there opportunity right now to go down a level for a course that is particularly strenuous for the student?

Stacey: Um, and then I would say maybe creating a, a realistic timeline, like sitting down, calendaring it out, and saying, “Okay, this weekend we are going to create your college list. This week we are… This weekend we are going to fill out the personal information. This night we are going to upload your transcript.”

Stacey: So that you know you have a goal each, at each point, and you’re trying to hold a- accountable to that goal. Um, if your senior feels very behind right now, [00:41:00] um, early action, early decision deadlines are, of course, very attractive, but regular decision is totally feasible, too, and would allow them more time for application.

Stacey: Um, and if they do wanna apply early, maybe have them choose one school. The last thing I will say is it is not possible to apply to as m- all the schools in the world, right? And so creating that college list is gonna be crucial to keeping that process less overwhelming so that you know, okay, we are only applying to these eight schools or these 10 schools.

Stacey: Um, and if I’m being honest, you know, I didn’t have all the money in the world to apply to colleges, and they… It costs money to apply to colleges. So I said, “These are my nine, and that’s it.” I wasn’t applying to any more. And I went back and forth a few times on which nine that would be, um, but you need to keep it within a reasonable scope.

Stacey: And in doing so, I would encourage your student to make a balanced list, so making sure you have some schools that are schools that they’re very likely to get into, [00:42:00] schools that m- maybe is, are more mid-range, and there, there are more challenging schools, but the student is a good match for them, and then those reach schools, if appropriate in their situation.

Stacey: So that’s a lot of tips and tricks. I know it’s hard to be in the situation you’re in. I think it’s great that you’re here today and asking this question, and I’m sure that, you know, you’re going to give them the support that they need. Um, but it is hard, and I, I do wanna acknowledge that.

Anesha: A quick question for you. Someone asked, “When would interviews occur?”

Stacey: Interviews would usually… So of course, your application would have to be submitted. So usually it would come after you submit your application. Sometime, it depends on the school that you’re applying to, sometime between October and, you know, March, um, usually.

Stacey: Those early action, early decision schools may be interviewing you in November, um, maybe early December at the latest. Um, but typically those early action, early decision deadlines are on the early side, so you’re going to be interviewed on the early [00:43:00] side for those. Um, y- I have seen interviews in January and February as well.

Stacey: March is a little late, but, um, I would say on average, I’m usually seeing them between November and February

Anesha: Yeah, I put October to December, but I think in the context of early applications. Um, yeah. Uh, someone asked, “For students applying during a gap year, what would you recommend prioritizing at this stage of the application process?”

Stacey: Yeah, that’s a great question. So if you’re applying during a gap year, um, first and foremost, you wanna consider how you’re going to frame your gap year in your a- on your application, right? So, uh, what activities were you doing during the gap year? How are you going to, um, maybe filter in information into your application, either your essay or your supplements or your resume or your letters of reference?

Stacey: How are you going to talk about that gap year, and why that was important to your next steps? Um, I would also, you know, cont- consider how you can be [00:44:00] engaged with your community and the world around you in a meaningful way such that you can demonstrate on your application mo- that on your application moving forward.

Stacey: If you haven’t taken tests, now is the time to take one. Um, you know, you’re running up against that deadline. Um, and then I would, I would cre- start looking at, um, the essays, the supplements for the schools that you’re interested in. Start organ- following the advice I’m fo- I’m giving here, um, and organize all the pieces of the application that you have to get prepared so that you are, um, working toward that steadily according to the deadlines for the schools you’re interested in.

Stacey: So a lot of s- similar advice, but also in consideration of how you are justifying that gap year on your application.

Anesha: Um, to the point about testing, I don’t know if you said, but I think I wanna add in the recommendation of not taking the test more than, like, three or four times. Yeah,

Stacey: yeah.

Anesha: I’ve had some folks who start early, and I get…

Anesha: They come to me in junior year, and they’re like, “I’m on my fourth, fourth SAT.” Yeah, I know. And I’m like, “Ugh, I don’t know.” Um, so just wanted to add that. Not

Stacey: a [00:45:00] good use of

Anesha: time. Sorry. Yeah. Um, okay.

Stacey: Totally agree. Totally.

Anesha: Uh, someone asked, “What do you think is the best course of action for finding scholarships to apply to?

Anesha: As a rising senior, I’m starting to look for… starting to apply to colleges in August. The scholarship process currently feels overwhelming in addition,” and they’re not sure where to start.

Stacey: Absolutely. I totally identify with that and understand that. So, um, first and foremost, if you have your college list, I would look to their financial aid websites.

Stacey: Their financial aid websites will not only speak to their own financial aid packages, but usually they are a great source of scholarship information associated with their schools. And so you can start there and start creating lists from those financial aid website resources. Another place to turn would be your guidance counselor or your school.

Stacey: They may have a list of local scholarships or local opportunities or h- um, opportunities specifically in your high school that they can share with you, um, that they know that students have been successful to applying to in the [00:46:00] past And then finally, you know, there is, I think what makes the scholarship application process so overwhelming is a Google search can produce a lot, right?

Stacey: And so my advice would be to start locally, um, and start with the colleges you’re applying to and then work outward. Um, and make a, a realistic goal for the number of scholarships you’ll apply to given what you’re expecting your schedule to be like and how many colleges you’re applying to as well. Um, so you, again, you can’t apply to 100 scholarships.

Stacey: Um, maybe make a goal for yourself that I’m gonna apply to 10 or however many makes sense for you, um, and narrow that down before starting those applications

Anesha: All right, we’re gonna take a quick break just to talk a little bit about CollegeAdvisor. Someone asked, one of the questions was what are the packages that we offer? So we’ll give a little [00:47:00] context to that. You’re ahead of our, our curve. Um, so we’re gonna highlight a couple students, um, and, and talk about their success stories.

Anesha: So our first student is DJ, who grew up wanting to be a physician. He was active in relevant extracurriculars and sought out challenging coursework. As a scientist, writing narratively was challenging, so the essay style didn’t come naturally to him. He signed up to work with CollegeAdvisor and was accepted to five colleges, including Johns Hopkins, where he received an institutional scholarship of around $61,000 per year.

Anesha: Another student, Abby, uh, reached out because she was an, an, she is, she was an aspiring first-generation college student. Her immigrant parents had no experience applying to US colleges, and she wasn’t receiving much support from her teachers and school counselors, so she felt alone in the process. She was thinking ahead and connected with CollegeAdvisor as a sophomore.

Anesha: She ended up applying Early Decision to Cornell, where she was accepted and received, uh, full financial aid. These are just two examples of the, uh, 10,000 plus clients CollegeAdvisor has guided through the application process. Our [00:48:00] team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process through one-on-one advising sessions and essay editing.

Anesha: To learn more about how you can get started with CollegeAdvisor, you can scan the QR code that is up on the screen to sign up for a free 60-minute strategy session with an admissions specialist on our team. During this meeting, you’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations of what you can do to stand out.

Anesha: At the end, you’ll also learn more about our premium packages, um, that we offer and be paired with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, and much more. CollegeAdvisor is here for the whole process. We will leave the QR code up on the screen. If it does not work for you- Mm-hmm

Anesha: um, just do not close your window when the webinar ends. You’ll be directed to the same website in order to sign up for, um, a session. All right, we’re gonna get back to our questions. My next question for you, um- Is advice for parents. Someone asked, how can parents [00:49:00] help their teens stay organized and manage multiple application deadlines?

Anesha: Where, where’s the line in the sand for parents?

Stacey: Yeah, that’s a great question. And so I think w- I w- what I was talking about earlier, um, if you can sit down with your teen and create a timeline together, you know, maybe you create a calendaring system. And th- I wouldn’t say that you need to necessarily micromanage.

Stacey: I think it, it’s dependent on the individual student and the parent and the relationship that they have together and what the student needs. Um, but some students may be more independent than others, so they might not really need your support in helping them keep on track with those deadlines. Um, and others may need a lot of support in making sure they stay on target.

Stacey: And so mapping it out with dates, clear dates, according to the deadlines that you know exist for those schools is probably one of the most useful tools, um, in helping your teen manage the process. Because I don’t, I don’t see a lot of, um, teens [00:50:00] early in life having those organizational tools, right? Some, some are really good at it naturally, but, um, many just haven’t had to make those sorts of timelines for themselves and have those deadlines in place before.

Stacey: So creating like a calendar with your teen, I think, is one of the most useful things a parent can do, and then subsequently helping them stay accountable to those deadlines, um, would be something that would be reasonable as well. Um, I- parents also often give feedback on, um, essays. Um, they, not always, but sometimes.

Stacey: Um, and I, I think sitting down with them and helping them fill out sections of the application may help them feel more supported and less overwhelmed, because sometimes filling out, say, like, the personal information or academic information, even though it may sound pretty straightforward, it can feel very overwhelming to the teen at the time.

Stacey: So even just being present during those data entry moments could be really helpful as well. [00:51:00]

Anesha: Um, this is not related to the timeline, but I think it’s still a helpful question. Someone asked, “When making a college list, is it okay if I haven’t been able to visit colleges, or does it make a difference?”

Stacey: Absolutely. So, uh, if you haven’t been able to visit colleges, you… There are a number of resources online that you can use to help inform your decision. You can visit college websites. You can look at their career pages. You can look at their… I, I’m a little bit, um, I al- I, I’m, I’m a course catalog nerd. I don’t know how else to say it.

Stacey: I love course catalogs. So I remember when I went to school, Yale had something called the Blue Book. It was quite literally a big paperback blue book. Um, and it would have all the majors available at Yale and all of the coursework associated with those majors, and I loved reading through that thing. Um, and I, I still feel this way about other colleges’ course…

Stacey: I’m such a nerd. But, um, and I say that, you know, endearingly. I, I hope there’s others like me in the room somewhere. But you can look at schools’ course [00:52:00] catalogs online now, so that’s a wonder- a wonderful thing. And you can look at different majors and say, “Ooh, does that coursework look interesting to me?”

Stacey: Or, “Ooh, does that coursework look as interesting to me?” And so you can look to see which schools are offering academic programs that are actually things that you wanna study. Um, there’s also an op- usually an opportunity for a virtual tour or an information session virtually. You can use all of those online resources to inform your decision.

Stacey: Uh, and it’s okay that you haven’t visited it in person. I would encourage you, if you got into an institution and you intend to go there, if you do have the opportunity to, to go to an admitted students day before you matriculate. I think that would be very valuable. So if you’re gonna take time and, um, resources to visit a school, at the point of admitted students day, that would be the most crucial time.

Anesha: Um, again, not related to timeline, but a good question someone asked, “What is a reasonable list to apply to specifically? In total, how many schools would you [00:53:00] recommend applying to considering the buckets that you discussed?”

Stacey: Yeah. No, thank you. That’s a great question. Um, typically I advise my students to apply to somewhere between, and this seems like a big range, but, um, nine and 15 schools.

Stacey: I typically shorten that to nine to 12, um, and in each of the buckets that I mentioned earlier. So there’s the very likely to get in. These schools have, um, very high admissions rates. They… The test scores are not, um, particularly daunting or, or as competitive as maybe some of, um, the Ivy or the top 20 schools.

Stacey: The student’s very likely going to get into them. Those schools are one bucket. You have a middle tier bucket where your test scores, your GPA is probably right on target with their admitted student class. Um, they aren’t in the high ranges of the admissions rates, but they’re not in the low ranges either, like the Ivys or the top 20s.

Stacey: They’re somewhere in the middle. That’s another bucket of schools, the [00:54:00] match schools, and then there’s the reach schools. So these are schools that, um, they have very, very low admissions rates. It’s, um, very, very competitive to get into them and even those who are very, very highly qualified students, um, may not get into these institutions, right?

Stacey: And so those are the three categories, and I typically advise that students place at least three schools in that likely bucket, roughly three schools in that reach bucket, and then a higher emphasis on that match bucket. So somewhere between, um, you know, three to five schools in that, that middle tier.

Stacey: Typically, students will tack on a few extra schools to the reach category, and so that’s why I say, like, nine to 12-ish. Uh, that would be my recommendation. I would never apply to all reach schools. Um, that would be not an ideal strategy because if I’m being frank, the… It is very possible for a student with a perfect test score, a perfect GPA, great extracurriculars, [00:55:00] to not get into any of their top choice institutions just simply because they are so competitive and there’s so many qualified applicants applying.

Stacey: At the end of the day, the factors that influence whether or not that student gets in are likely very much out of their control, and it likely has to do with caps on majors and demographics and goals of the university that the student isn’t able to really drive at that point, or inherently the subjective review of a college application, you know?

Stacey: Um, so I think it’s very important to make sure a student has a balanced list, um, with the goal that they, you know, will hopefully get into their top choice ins- institution and, and one of those to kind of reach category schools, um, is usually ideal. Um, but having that balanced list is really important.

Anesha: Um, no one asked this, but I think it’s relevant to the timeline, and someone submitted it actually as a question through the registration. Um, are there any tools or resources you would recommend that students use, um, in order to try to stay organized and, and on top of all the deadlines?

Stacey: Yeah, [00:56:00] that’s actually a really great question.

Stacey: Um, I, like I said, am a fan of a, a good old-fashioned spreadsheet. Um, I think it’s really, really helpful. I also am a fan of a good old-fashioned personal agenda. I like to… I know s- a lot of my students still like to write things down. Like, they like to have that physical agenda or calendar. And so having a book or something, or an application, or something on their phone dedicated to their college admission application process would be ideal.

Stacey: I think for many students today, having something on their phone would be a little more friendly for them than a paper, a paper document. Um, and so maybe you can think creatively about what works for you, um, or as a parent in the room or an educator, what works for the student. Um, maybe they need calendar reminders that tells them when things are going to happen.

Stacey: Maybe they need to have, um, a checklist of sorts that they need to go through. Um, and so I think it depends on the individual as to what helps them [00:57:00] stay organized the best and on top of what they need. Um, but I, I think w- the old-fashioned tools are my favorite, I must say, uh, but I’m sure there are many applications out there.

Stacey: And then I will say collegeadvisor.com has an amazing wealth of resources online that you can reference at any time, articles, webinars. Um, and so don’t be afraid to peruse those resources, because they’re quite educational and helpful along your journey.

Anesha: Yeah. Uh, I will do a plug for Notion. I had a student who did an amazing kind of tracking documentation- Oh, yeah.

Anesha: Yeah … on Notion. Um-

Stacey: I remember

Anesha: this. Yeah … do, do we have that- Yeah … do we share that student? Yeah. I

Stacey: think so. Venicia and I worked together with this

Anesha: student, I believe.

Stacey: Yeah. So- Yeah …

Anesha: it was amazing. Um, so if you know how to use the apps and tools like that, I think there are a lot of smart ways that we wouldn’t think to use it, that I think students have, um, in mind.

Anesha: Uh, okay, gonna end with, um, maybe some quick questions. Someone asked, “What is the downside [00:58:00] to early…” They understand the downside of early decision. Are there any downsides to early action?

Stacey: Yeah. So early action, I, I can’t think of a downside outside of needing to apply earlier, and therefore maybe feel a little bit more rushed with your application materials.

Stacey: There is… I think I saw a question about restrictive early action in the chat. So there is a, a, a version of early action that’s called restrictio- restrictive early action, and, um, I believe Yale was restrictive early action at the time I applied, too. This essentially means you apply early, you get in, or, or no- are notified of a decision early, I should say, and then you, but you can’t apply to any other school early.

Stacey: So y- you don’t have to go there. But you can only apply to one school restrictive early action, and, uh, early period in that situation. And so I did wanna mention that as well.

Anesha: Okay. My last question for you. Someone asked, “If I’ve never visited a school due to distance and timing, does it hurt my [00:59:00] chances?”

Stacey: No. And so I will say there are a number of enrollment factors that admissions officers may be considering. They do track engagement for some of these institutions with their, with their school, but by no means do they require students, um, to visit them. I would suggest engaging with them meaningfully if you have the opportunity, but you can do so virtually.

Anesha: Yeah, definitely do a, a- Yeah … an info session or- Yeah … a virtual tour if you can’t get there, and, and, uh, that’s okay. Okay. Um, I would love to answer more questions. There are a lot of interesting questions. Thank y’all for the thoughtful questions. But we are at the end. Thank you, Stacey, uh, for coming and sharing your expertise.

Anesha: Um, if you have any questions, um… Oh, sorry. We hope that you feel more informed about developing your application timeline. Again, you can stay on, uh, if you’d like to sign up for, uh, an information session. Just, uh, don’t close the browser window. Um, we also hope that you’ll join us for our future webinars.

Anesha: But until next time, take care, and have a great evening, [01:00:00] everybody. Thanks for coming out today.

Stacey: Thank you so much.