Counselor Edition: Final Stretch Checklist for College Applications.
Items to Reflect and Review
The Early Applications are mostly done and the attention turns to Regular Decision deadlines.
As students start to make their push towards completing their College Applications, I would encourage them to consider the following items and decide in a deliberate manner:
Do You have Honors Colleges on Your College List?
Are You Applying for Scholarships?
Should You Submit Test Scores?
Does Your Application Bring Out Your Best Self?
1.Do You have Honors Colleges on Your College List?
If you don’t have any Honors Colleges on your College List, take a quick look to see if you should maybe add one to your List.
As you may know, there are over 100 Honors Colleges in the US. They offer flagship programs and have wonderful opportunities for students.
Here are some Highlights:
It’s a Community!
Interprofessional Education
High Impact Practices - Encouraged and Supported
Access to Scholarships and Grants
Lots of Career Opportunities
For more check this Newsletter article titled Do You Have Honors Colleges on Your List? from earlier this year.
2.Are You Applying for Scholarships
a.Diligently Apply for Scholarships.
Almost half the college applicants cite College cost is a huge factor in college selection. This is supported by the podcast conversations I have had with College Alumni about their college selection.
In fact, in a number of cases they ultimately accepted the college that offered them the most generous Merit Scholarship.
Brown Sophomore Rishika Kartik says, “I think scholarship applications are something that get overlooked because college apps themselves are a lot of work. And so I see a lot of students rush their applications or feel a lot of stress because they didn't allow enough time for research.”
It is imperative that you spend time researching what each of your prospective College Costs and what, if any, Merit Scholarship options are available at that college.
To help with this, check out this Podcast Episode on Segment#9 on Merit-Based Financial Aid from our Podcast Series “How to Build a Standout College Application” with Ben Stern of IvyAchievement.
b.Fill out the FAFSA
The new and improved FAFSA comes out in December 2023.
Apply for the FAFSA.
By not applying, you may leave money on the table or miss out scholarship opportunities,
An NCAN report recently said that in 2021 students left $3.75B in Pell Grants on the table by not completing FAFSA).
So, keep an eye for when FAFSA comes out, and fill it out.
For more, check out this Podcast Episode “5 FAFSA Questions Answered” with Shveta Bagade of SMB College Consulting.
3.Should You Submit Test Scores?
Ever since Test Optional became a thing, the question is whether or not to Submit the Standardized Test Scores to the colleges you apply.
Paula Dennis, College Counselor at Jenks High School in Oklahoma has some valuable tips on how to decide, in this Newsletter article.
Determine the 50th Percentile for Your College
Do Colleges Care About Test Scores?
Is It to your Advantage to Submit?
Listen to the Podcast with Paula Dennis of Jenks High School, Oklahoma.(48-Minute Listen).
4.Finally, Does Your Application Bring Out Your Best Self?
Take a step back and review your College Application, by asking the following questions:
Is My Story Coherent?
Is My Best Self Coming Through?
We put together a Workbook to help with this and have an entire “Podcast Episode with Athena Lao on a College Application Workbook.” to discuss this.
You can also check out the related Newsletter article.
The Workbook will walk you through the following:
Self-Phrase
Superpower
Academic Proficiency
Experiential
Testimony
Fit
As you listen to the Podcast, follow along section by section and fill out corresponding sections in the Workbook.
After you review, Make the changes in your application that you find wanting in any of the above dimensions.
Hope the Checklist has a positive impact on your Application.
I would love to hear what you think of this Checklist, your feedback and comments. Thank You!
Good Luck with your application!
Thank You to All for supporting the Podcast and this Newsletter, and to all My Guests who have been generous with their time and counsel on my podcasts.
Have a Wonderful November!
Venkat