Hi all,
My dd is a senior in high school this year and will be applying to colleges, but I'm not sure of the timeline and when she is supposed to do what. Unfortunately, the school is not helping these kids and I also have her friends asking me to help them. My own college experience was so long ago and I didn't go through the normal application process, so I don't really know where to begin. Does anyone know of any resources out there that would give a step-by-step timeline? I've looked on the ACT website and gotten some information, but could really use a better understanding. Some colleges say to apply as early as November, is this normal? I know they have to have taken their ACT or SAT and apply for the financial aid in January, but there's a lot more, isn't there? As you can see, I'm confused!!

The College Application Process

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the best site I have found is [url]www.collegeboards.com

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Most of the more "competititve" colleges require applications to be submitted by the end of December, and the F/A applications to be in by the end of January (which is really hard, because you don't even have all that tax stuff until the end of January.)

Those schools then send out their decision letters at the end of March/beginning of April.

[It is also possible to apply for Early Decision, in the fall, if you want - and there are some fairly good reasons to do so if you're applying to the VERY competitive schools.]

But most colleges have what is called "rolling admissions" - they accept applications over a longer period of time, and accept students until their number of slots is filled up.

I'd suggest making a list of schools your student is interested in, and looking at them online. They will have ALL the application information there, and quite a few schools use the same application forms, called the "Common Ap".

My oldest will be a college senior this year, and my next oldest is going to be a high school senior, and I'm really dreading doing those applications and F/A forms all over again, to be honest.

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When your child has a list of a few schools that he or she may be interested in, you should also plan to do a few school visits. Our high school allowed students to miss 3 days of school during the year to look at various colleges, but many people do them either in the summer or during an early inservice day during the school year. Seeing a school and actually getting a feel for what is like is very important in the decision making process. The timeline listed by the previous poster is a pretty good one. One other thing, if your child is offered financial awards, at least here in Pennsylvania, the school wants your child's decision of whether or not he will be attending that school, with all of the paperwork completed and returned, by the end of May.

Different tests are used in different parts of the country, some require ACT's for admisssion, others SAT's. Here they use SAT's. Your child needs to be signed up for the exams by a certain deadline, so check the website for the test that they plan to take. Most kids take the test twice, to allow for a better score, once they know what the test will be like.

I would try to get signed up for the testing for early fall, then again around the end of December or early January.

Your test results will give you an indication of what schools your child may apply to. (and get in)
Go to your local library and look for a "guide to colleges" , I believe we bought a "Barron's guide",
It lists everything about each college, the cost, the enrollment, the class size, ratio of male to female students, average SAT or ACT scores of applicants, and majors offered at each school. You need to make sure whatever your child is interested in is offered at the college that they are applying to. If your child does not have a major in mind, then you need to choose a school large enough that they have several choices available to them.

Start looking out for scholarships. The best kind to apply for are local ones. Some organizations like the elks, rotary clubs, churches, banks, grocery stores, etc offer scholarships. Get applications in. Many have deadlines between October and January of the child's senior year.

I was told November of the Jr. year you start sending them out.

Much good info here already. We are in the same process with our soon-to-be HS senior. We have done a lot of the research during the spring and summer so that he has his list down to about 10 universities for application. We have visited 8 schools so far. Application timelines and requirements vary by the individual school, some beginning as early as Sept 15 and most closing sometime in January. We probably won't go apply early decision at any of them; although it might be the right choice for other situations. It is a binding decision; if accepted, you must withdraw all other applications and attend that school.

One of the important things that we have learned is to zero in on field of study and then find schools that are good in that area, or if DD is not sure what she wants to do, one that offers some options and/or a good liberal arts & sciences curriculum. Then using books and whatever resources available on the various colleges, we were advised to be realistic about DS's chances of getting into the schools of his choice based on SAT/ACT test scores, GPA, and HS curriculum. We were encouraged to target 1-2 "safe" schools (sure of getting into), 2-3 "target" schools, and 1-2 "stretch" schools for a total of 6-7 applications.

I'd be very surprised if your dd's HS guidance office doesn't offer anything on the college application process beginning in the fall.....contact them. It's a little early, maybe they just haven't gotten to it yet.

Good luck....I'm really enjoying this process! DS and I are really working close together.

cj/

Best wishes to you on the whole process. It is an absolute nightmare but trust me, you will survive it. My oldest just started grad school and my other one just started as a Freshman at the same university. I developed early on, a conversation with the gal at the registar's office and she helped me out alot. Fortunately we were only interested in one school so I could keep my focus on that institution only. Keep checking the school's website and it should help with the deadlines. Both times we applied for early decision and that seemed to move everything much earlier but at least we got it out of the way long before the Xmas holiday when we were busy with other things. Good Luck to you and your family.