How Can I Do This?

Application season starts the summer before your senior year.  Here's what to do before August:

• Familiarize yourself with the different ways to apply to college:  

  • Direct to Institution (e.g., University of Hawaii, Montana State University)

  • Common App (e.g., CU Boulder, CSU)

  • Coalition App

  • University of California application (all UC schools)

  • Cal State application (e.g., Cal Poly)

  • Apply Texas (UT Austin)

• Draft your essays, set up spreadsheets with application details (deadlines, number of supplemental essays, scholarship information, etc.), and set up your Common App account.

• Prepare your resume, statement of purpose, goals and list of colleges to give to your recommenders (teachers, counselors, etc.) at the beginning of the school year.

• Some colleges (Arizona State University, Colorado School of Mines) start accepting applications before your senior year starts.

The most important aspects of an application are GLATE (Grades, Letters of Recommendation, Activities, Testing, Essays)

Most colleges now do holistic application reviews and consider more than just your grades and test scores.  So you want to think about how to talk about all the aspects of your life in a way that creates resonance in your application.  What are your values?  What are you bringing to a college community? You need to sell yourself to them!

• Grades

  • Very important.  Your cumulative GPA is important as is the rigor of your course selections.  Class rank is less important.

• Letters of Recommendation

  • You’ll need at least one core academic teacher; additional letters can be from other teachers, coaches, etc.  

  • Many colleges also require a counselor letter of recommendation.  The counselor letter can be the most important one because that person will talk about who you are as a person versus who you are in a particular classroom setting.  

  • Prepare a resume, statement of purpose, and any other materials you think may be helpful for your recommender.

• Activities

  • Sports, clubs, volunteer work, jobs, family responsibilities - these are all very important!  

  • Think about developing depth in a few activities, rather than breadth in many activities.  Build toward leadership positions over high school.

• Testing

  • SAT and ACT tests are becoming increasingly important again since COVID.  

  • If you like your scores, submit them - they can make the difference!

• Essays

  • Colleges can require between 0 and 10 supplemental essays.  This can be extremely burdensome during your senior year, so give yourself enough time to chunk these up into manageable efforts.  

  • Use the supplemental essays to talk about different areas of your life - they should not all be about one thing (a sport, your job, etc.).  Show them the different sides of yourself.

What’s a good game plan?  Think about…

• Who is on your team?

• Where will you get support for this process?

• What’s the timing on all of this?

If you can start putting the pieces together over the summer before your senior year, you will be in good shape.

Colleges are still updating their applications into the summer, so requirements/questions and other particulars in the application may not be up-to-date if you start too early.

Before your senior year, you can be visiting colleges, compiling your list of colleges, thinking about who your recommenders will be, taking standardized tests, and building your resume.

Sets of Knowledge You’ll Need:

• Each college’s application process

• How to put together your application (GLATE, resume, portfolio, etc.)

• How to use Naviance

• EHS’ process for official documents and the EHS school profile (read this over!)

• Other official documents (e.g., dual enrollment at RRCC or CU Denver)

• How to send score reports (College Board, ACT.org)

• Financial aspects of college (application fees, total cost of attendance, financial aid, scholarships, etc.)

• Enrollment deposit

• Housing deposit

Other preparations you can make:

• Your high school course selections

  • It matters what courses you’re choosing and how you perform in them

  • Rigor and increasing rigor

  • Demonstrate you are ready for college-level work by the time you are a senior

• Email addresses and management

  • Set up a professional sounding email address that you use for all college communications and applications

  • Start checking emails regularly!  This is how colleges communicate with you. Once you submit an application, you should be checking email daily - they will tell you about missing parts of your application, possible interviews, scholarship information, housing applications, enrollment deadlines, etc.

  • They don’t care if you miss the email - this is on you!

• College visits and demonstrated interest

  • Almost every college assigns an admissions counselor to your high school. You can search for this person by searching “[name of college] admissions counselors”.  This person is very important!  They are the first reader of your application and can move you along to additional readers if they believe you are a good fit.

  • Some colleges, but not all, strongly consider your demonstrated interest - they want to know you are serious about them! (you can see if a college measures demonstrated interest by looking in section C7 of their most recent Common Data Set or at this list).

  • Every time you interact with a college that cares about demonstrated interest, they make note of it.  So, when you visit a campus, take the official tour and give them your identifying information.  If they visit EHS, try to attend the meeting. If they have webinars, participate.  And, find interesting ways to reach out to your assigned admissions counselor to ask non-obvious questions.  This will keep you in their top of mind and they may be more likely to advocate for your admission with their colleagues.

  • Use a “report card” to score a college at each visit.

• Get to know Naviance

  • This platform is used by colleges and universities to officially accept your high school documents - transcripts, letters of recommendation, school profile.

  • Learn how to use this platform, particularly the “Colleges I’m Applying To” page.

• Build spreadsheets and set up a schedule

  • Collect information about your potential colleges

  • Include location, application type (Common App, Direct, etc.), costs, deadlines, etc.

  • Do the same for scholarships

Going to college is an adult activity, and you are going to build an incredible set of adult skills by going through this process.  Embrace it and pace yourself!

9th and 10th Grades:

• Consider your course selection, building rigor over the years

• Extracurricular Activities - Depth, not Breadth

• Register for the NCAA Eligibility Center if you think you want to play in college

• GRADES GRADES GRADEs

• Take the PSAT 9 and PSAT 10 in the spring

• Visit colleges when fun or convenient - start to think about what you may like!

11th Grade:

• Consider your course selection, building rigor 

• Extracurricular Activities - start building toward leadership positions if possible or desired

• Register for the NCAA Eligibility Center if you think you want to play in college

• GRADES GRADES GRADEs

• Testing:

• PSAT NMSQT - fall

• SAT - spring

• ACT - spring/summer if desired

• Retake SAT in summer if necessary

• Visit colleges using scorecards

• Get your college application list down to 20 by end of junior year

• Start thinking about which teachers would write a good letter of recommendation for you

• Set up your Common App account

• Look for internships and work opportunities that will enhance your applications

• Summer after 11th grade - draft essay(s), set up a spreadsheet with application requirements and deadlines, get your list down to 1-20 colleges

12th Grade:

• Keep rigorous courses in your schedule and avoid senioritis

• Extracurricular Activities - leadership positions can be helpful

• GRADES GRADES GRADES still matter!

• Retake SAT and/or ACT by November if desired

• Visit colleges using scorecards

• Refine your spreadsheet with application requirements and deadlines

• Fill out your Common App

• Write your essays (including supplemental essays for each college)

• Request letters of recommendation from teachers, counselor, coaches, etc. (then send thank you notes)

• Submit applications and request SAT/ACT score reports and official high school documents (transcript, letters of recommendation, school profile) - make sure you know the procedure at your high school!

• Research scholarship opportunities

• Research housing options

• Make final visits (Accepted Student Days are really fun!)

• Decision Day - May 1st

• Make your enrollment deposit

• Next steps to get ready for college

• Graduate, Enjoy Summer, and Go to College! 

Start thinking about your team - who is going to support you on this application journey?  Who can help you?

• You!

• Parents/Guardians

• School counselor

• School college/career center

• Independent college consultants

• Test prep tutors

• Older siblings

• Other family members and friends

• Your peers

• Teachers, particularly with essays  

What do YOU want?

• Reasons to go to college:

  • Your desired career requires a degree

  • You enjoy learning and the idea of an academic environment

  • You are not sure exactly what you want to do, but you are exploring different disciplines

  • You want the college experience, traditions, dormitory life, Greek life, etc.

  • You want to build a network for your future career

• Are you hesitant? Think about these questions…

  • Does your desired career require a degree?

  • Do you dislike school and academics?

  • Do you have the grades to get into college?  If not, we can look at other pathways to get you started.

  • Are you doing this to please someone in your life?

  • Is student loan debt a concern?

What do your parents want?

• Financial considerations - it's important to have honest conversations about what you can afford as a family.

• Family traditions

• Logistics - how far away is it ok to be?

• Parents get to add to your college list of applications

• Health concerns - do you need to be closer to home?

• Consideration of your maturity and readiness

• College is a thing you do, not a place you go - parents may have a really good perspective on this for you

• If you choose not to go college, parents are going to want to know the PLAN! You should not be on their payroll for much longer!

How do you want to approach this journey as a family?

• Kids needs to “pack their own backpack” - they need to know what they have, need, where it is, and how to manage it

• The student should do the work of college applications!

• Parents are coaches and mentors, but they do not do the work!

• If you are applying to a college with interviews, you’re going to need to know your application inside and out

• Don’t let this end your relationship! By November of senior year, most kids are hitting their limits.  Support each other through this process!

• Rolling Admissions NOT Binding apply Aug – Jun

• Colorado Free App Days / Fee Waivers apply Oct

• Early Decision BINDING apply Nov/Dec (ED I) and Jan (ED II)

• Restrictive Early Action NOT Binding apply Nov/Dec

• Early Action NOT Binding apply Nov/Dec

• Regular Decision NOT Binding apply Jan/Feb 

• Accepted

• Deferred

• Wait Listed – strategy may be utilized by colleges to improve yield (so don't despair, they may be "yield protecting" themselves):

  • ED – 100% yield

  • EA – 50% yield

  • RD – 20% yield

  • Wait List – if a student is moved to a wait list, colleges may contact you to verbally obtain commitment to enroll = helping them approach 100% yield

• Rejected

• Reconsidered - you can try writing a letter of reconsideration or appeal (this also applies to financial aid)