Are you trying to navigate all the differents peices that go into your college application? Read below for a breakdown of all the different components of your college application and recommendations for how to make it as strong as possible.
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A college application is a combination of documents and materials that provides admissions officers with a comprehensive view of your academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and personal qualities. Each component plays a crucial role in helping colleges evaluate your readiness for their school and fit within their community. Below is an overview of the key elements that make up a college application.
Transcript: The record of all the classes you took as a high school student and the grades you received. For most colleges, this is the most important part of your application.
Extracurricular Activities: Colleges love to see well-rounded applicants who have participated in activities outside of the classroom. They especially like students who have taken on leadership roles. Extracurriculars include things like clubs, sports, volunteering, work and internship experiences, and sometimes family responsibilities and personal hobbies. If you’ve received awards or honors during your high school career, they will typically go in this section. On the Common App, extracurriculars go under the Activities section.
Essay(s): Most colleges require students to submit at least one main essay. This is your chance to show colleges the things about you they can’t learn by just looking at your transcript or the other parts of your application. Be honest, proud of your accomplishments, and write your essays to the highest academic quality that you can. If you have anything on your transcript or resume that you think an admissions officer might be concerned about, like a year of poor grades or suspensions on your record, a college essay can be an opportunity to explain that. Some colleges may also require students to write one or more shorter supplemental essays.
SAT/ACT: The SAT/ACT is no longer required by most colleges, although many students still choose to take one or both of the tests and submit their scores when applying. Most colleges will only look at your highest overall score. For the SAT, that is usually your “superscore” (the highest Reading/Writing score added to the Math highest score).
A word of caution: when looking at the average SAT/ACT scores of a particular college, be aware that they are likely skewed to show higher scores than the actual average range of students who are accepted or attend. This is because since most schools changed to “test optional” in the past few years, most students who take the test have chosen to only submit their score if they are within or above the average posted SAT/ACT score range of a particular college (like this workbook recommends to do). As a result, schools’ SAT/ACT score ranges have slowly crept higher.
Letters of Recommendation: Many colleges require at least one letter of recommendation. This is a chance for a trusted adult, like a teacher, school counselor, administrator, coach, mentor or boss to give their opinion of you, your character, work ethic and personality. They can tell a college a lot about an applicant. Many colleges require or prefer one of the letters submitted to be from a teacher.
Note: always ask adults, especially teachers, months in advance to write your letter. They are busy people and are usually inundated with requests from other seniors at the start of the school year. Also, letters of recommendation should never be from family members.
Personal Information: College applications will also typically include a variety of informational questions about you, your family, your education, etc. The Common App includes the following sections – Profile, Family, Education, Testing, Activities, Writing and Courses & Grades. Most colleges will ask you to complete the majority of these sections, some will ask you to complete all, and some may have other specific questions or things they will require from you. Colleges may ask for financial information and you may want to submit a FAFSA form.
Interviews: Some colleges may offer or require interviews; however, this is much less common than it used to be. If your college asks you to conduct an interview make sure you take time to prepare by thinking of questions they might ask you (they want to know about you and why you’re interested in their school), as well as questions you might want to ask them. Make sure to practice, either on your own or with someone you trust, before going on your interview.
Portfolios: Some specialized colleges, programs or majors require portfolios of your work to apply. These are rare, but can include programs like art, music, creative writing, or theater.
Recommendations
Applications, especially the essay(s), almost always take students longer to complete than they initially thought. It is highly recommended that you start your applications early.
If at all possible, finish (or at least start) your essay(s) and as much of the rest of your application as you can during the summer before your Senior year. This avoids having to do the work for your college applications AND take classes, and helps make sure your application is as strong as it can be. Students who rush to submit materials last minute often feel more stressed and submit lower quality applications than if they had started earlier.
Whenever possible, show the college you’re applying to that you’re specifically interested in their school. Take the time to visit colleges and meet or speak with admissions representatives. This can make a huge difference, especially if you make a good impression with an admissions rep. Also, make sure to research the colleges you’re applying to, what you like about them and why you’d be a good fit. These things will usually come out in the Essay or Interview portion of the application (if they have one).
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