What goes into a college application?

Your transcript lists the courses you have taken for high school credit and the grades you earned in those courses. Colleges will use this information, along with the school profile (see below) to determine the rigor of your program. Colleges want for you to take the most challenging courses that you can do well in.  Click here to request a copy of your transcript.

Your school counselor will automatically send a copy of Monticello High School's school profile to each college to which you apply. It gets updated each fall to reflect information for the current senior class.  

You will register and send your scores to colleges through  SAT College Board or ACT.  If a college requests official test scores as part of your application, you must have those sent directly from College Board or the ACT program to each college. 

We do list your unofficial SAT/ACT test scores on your transcript, but they are not considered official. If you do not want your SAT/ACT scores listed on your transcript, please talk to your school counselor.

Learn more about the SAT and ACT.

Teacher Letter

We suggest that you reach out to two teachers by the end of your junior year to ask if they would be willing and able to write a positive letter of recommendation for you. 

Counselor Letter

Some schools require a letter of recommendation from your school counselor. If that is the case, your school counselor will be more than happy to write a letter for you during the fall of your senior year.

Some colleges will provide you an opportunity to answer essay questions. Although colleges often use the same essay questions each year, make sure you don't start working on your college essays until the college has announced what essay questions they will use for your application season. Senior English teachers also hope to make admission essays part of their September curriculum next fall.

Colleges want to know how you spend your time outside of the classroom so they can better understand how you might contribute to your campus and community. This is where you will share information about things like work, hobbies, clubs, honor societies, and community engagement. Don't forget, family responsibilities are important as well. You will also have the chance to share any academic honors or achievements from high school.

A great way to organize your activities ahead of time is to create a resume. The activity sheet to the right will get you started, and then we suggest you meet with our Career Specialist, Katie Bledsoe, to turn your activity sheet into a resume!

Less can be more! 

What is important is not the quantity of your activities but the quality of your engagement. Colleges are thinking about the community member you will be on, and around, their college campus. Seeing how you have spent your energy and time in high school helps to paint a picture of the types of involvement you will seek out as a college student.

What activities should I pursue?

Here are some questions to ask yourself when thinking about how to spend your time outside of the classroom:

What is a meaningful contribution I can make?

Why is service important?

Are my activities gratifying?

Am I pursuing my interests?

What can I learn from my experiences?

Family responsibilities

For some students, family obligations take up a lot of their time. Colleges want to hear about these commitments, as they often demonstrate the positive qualities they seek in future college community members.