Students applying to college can generally start filling out applications in the August prior to their senior year -- typically opening August 1. Please note that transcripts, recommendations, counselor evaluations, etc. will not be ready until mid-September (at the earliest) of the senior year, but that does not have to prevent you from filling out the initial applications. Even the earliest deadlines will be addressed by this timeline.

It is STRONGLY advised that students spend quality time developing a list of 8-10+ schools to apply to that fit their preferred criteria and include some that are safeties, matches, and a few reaches -- both admissions and financially....BEFORE starting the tedious process of applying!  Applying is time and energy consuming work, with no absolute guarantee of desired outcome, so better to focus attention on schools that meet or exceed all or most of your important criteria! A well-crafted, realistic college list ideally will result in lots of "YES!" but also feasible and exciting options for you.  (For a bit more about what I mean, I think this blog post says it well -- "The most successful candidates approach {the process} deliberately, not impulsively!!)

• The Common Application: The Common Application is an undergraduate college admission application that applicants may use to apply to over 1,000 member colleges and universities in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Canada, China, Japan, and many European countries.  *New to 2025*  Scoir is now integrated with the Common Application, making it easier than ever to send complete application files to those colleges. Students have a few steps to complete on Common App and SCOIR to link their accounts before they sync and allow for document sending on their behalf.

• Common Black College Application: Apply to 66 historically Black colleges and universities with one application, for $20. Move the college to "Applied" on SCOIR AND also add Mrs. CR's email to your CBCA application, where it indicates to do so. 

• Individual College Applications: If a college does NOT participate in one of the "common" applications listed above, they likely have a college-specific application online on their website. Fill out the initial application on their website, look for a confirmation email. You may receive updated instructions on how to log-in to a special "portal" to check updates to your application.  Move the college over to Applied on SCOIR, and Mrs. CR will take care of the rest.

Students applying to college should plan to complete the initial application FIRST and then "request" a transcript to be sent.
(Why? When a student submits their initial application, a college assigns them an ID/number and creates a "folder" for all of their supporting documents to be collected and efficiently matched to their application.  Applying first and then requesting supporting documents to be sent does require planning ahead for strict deadlines, but doing so better ensures order and efficiency.)

Practically every college will require a transcript to be sent or uploaded in order to issue an admissions decision. In addition, you may find that you need a transcript to accompany applications to scholarships or special programs. Generally, students should fill out the initial application to the college prior to requesting supporting materials to be sent.

• Official Transcripts to Colleges : Official transcripts are sent directly from The City School to the college. To have an official transcript sent to a college, seniors must add the college to their SCOIR "Applied" list. This automatically generates a request on the counselor side of the portal for the transcript. Please allow at least 5-7 "business" days for delivery, as usually there are other items that must be prepared and to accompany the transcript.

• Unofficial Copies for Upload or Self-Report: Many colleges have adopted systems that either allow you (applicant) to upload an unofficial copy (pdf, usually) of your transcript OR require you to use a copy to fill in your courses and grades in a special form (self-reported transcript).  Each student in the senior class will be given access to a "college application transcript" PDF in their SCOIR account to use for this purpose. 

• Grades 10-11: Need a copy of your transcript sent to you (unofficial) or directly to a special program or scholarship (official)?  Contact Mrs. Conde-Rodriguez for more information. Please allow at least 5-7 "business" days for delivery. (Students in Grade 9 do not have transcripts, which report only final grades, until they have completed their first year. The most recent report card usually serves as an adequate source for students in grade 9.)

• Grade Point Average: GPAs are updated at the end of the school year with final grades. Students in grades 10-12 can find their cumulative GPAs in their SCOIR accounts under the Academic Overview section in their profiles.

• For more information on standardized testing, visit the Standardized Testing page! 

• If you desire to send your test scores to colleges, you can set that up in College Board to have them sent directly to the colleges. Many colleges currently accept self-reported scores (but then will ask for verified score reports later), but some still yet will accept a copy of scores from your counselor, accompanying your application. Speak to Mrs. CR if you need your test scores sent to colleges on your behalf. 

• If you're not sure about if you should send your test scores or not to a test-optional school, check out this article and chat with Mrs. CR:
  Should I Send My Test Scores? - Scholarships360 

Identify your earliest deadline and count back 2 (latest) to 4+ (ideal) weeks as your deadline to formalize your teacher, counselor, and other recommendation requests and inform them of all important details (deadline, colleges to be sent to, etc.). 

Teacher Recommendations from TCS Teachers: You are likely to need at least 1 (maybe 2) academic teachers to write you a recommendation letter. As we discuss in class and in individual meetings, WHO you ask matters and we can strategize what that means for YOU! HOW and WHEN you ask also matters, so please give your teachers adequate time to complete them.  Remember, after you have a personal conversation and receive a confirmed "Yes!", you need to remember to "open the mailbox" on SCOIR for your teachers to write, upload, and submit their letters for sending! 

Counselor Letters, Evaluations, Reports (also called Secondary School Reports) - Mrs. CR can and will craft personalized, detailed counselor evaluations for each student. These are slightly different from teacher recommendations, as her letters will talk a little bit more about you relative to our school and your classmates, your overall academic profile, course rigor, contributions to the school, and other contexual elements about you uniquely. Her letters can be used as one of your recommendations, if required or optional. Your ticket to a counselor letter is to complete the Counselor Evaluation Questionnaire (given out the summer before senior year) in full so that she can write your evaluation. For a sample of what information is usually included, you can check out this Counselor Letter template that she often uses to get started. 

"Outside Recommendations"  If you are asking a non-TCS coach, mentor, supervisor, or teacher from a previous high school (for transfer students) , you can still ask them to write a letter of recommendation for you, usually for additional recommendations or for scholarships. If it is on the Common Application, simply send them the request via Common App! If you need the letter sent on your behalf to non-Common App colleges, scholarships, or other programs, you can give them directions for each situation on how to send it directly to the school/scholarship, AND/OR ask them to send a PDF copy (signed, ideally) directly to Mrs. Conde-Rodriguez, and she can upload, store, and send those letters as needed. 

Need-based fee waivers, to be used for both as testing vouchers and college application fee waivers, are available if you meet the financial eligibility. Generally the eligibility criteria stay the same, with some adjustments for federally-established poverty guidelines from year to year.  Here's more details on how this process works.

• Fill out this confidential form (sent only to the TCS Counseling Department) to see if you meet this year's eligibility criteria. 

• Not eligible? Read here for how you might still get at least some of your college application fees waived! 

• List of Colleges that Have NO Application Fee!
  
  

If you qualify for fee waivers*: 

• You can apply to up to 20 colleges on Common Application for free by filling out the fee waiver section (requires counselor verification)

• If you took an SAT with a fee waiver, you can access unlimited fee waivers for college applications in your CB account.

• You can fill out the Fee Waiver Request Form on SCOIR to accompany your college application materials. 

KEEP IN MIND: A few schools do NOT accept ANY fee waivers, so be prepared to commit to paying those fees, or to remove the college from the list!

Students were preregistered and encouraged to attend the free College Essay Guy personal statement sessions over the summer. Those recordings are still available to view, even if not live, and I encourage students to start there for brainstorming, drafting, and revising their personal statements. CEG does a stellar job in providing helpful activities that get the creative juices flowing, while also guiding students throughtfully towards fulfilling the unique and targeted purposes and goals of college essays (over other kinds of writing). Before students ask for help with essays from me, I humbly ask that they utilize these excellent and very thorough resources first. There's so much here -- it's what I'll refer them to anyway! 

• Free Resources for Writing Your College Essays

• Complete Guide on Scholarship Essays  - College Essay Guy

Nearly every college application is going to ask you to recount how you've spent your time outside of the classroom, in grades 9-12, through an activities list! This is where you get to "brag" a little bit about what you've been up to, what you've achieved...but most importantly, what skills, experience, value you've gained from participating, leading, collaborating, planning, contributing, etc. in these activities!  HINT: USE POWERFUL VERBS! 

Writing Effective Descriptions on Your Activities List - College Essay Guy: To know what to include on your activities list and how maximize the itty bitty space (150 characters!) you have to write about each of your activities, check out this guide! This is written about the Common App's activities section (which you will likely copy bits of your SCOIR activities list into!) but the advice about what it should contain can help guide you!  

Creating Your Activities List/Resume on SCOIR: An activities list, while sometimes called a "resume", for college applications is a little bit different. It's suggested not to use a resume template as used for a job, but the good news is that SCOIR has a preformatted setup for you already to create an effective activities list, suitable for your college applications!