The Ultimate College Application Timeline to Help Your Process

The Ultimate College Application Timeline

Kathryn Scherer

July 12, 2018

The Ultimate College Application Timeline

Welcome to the summer before your senior year! At this point, you’re probably excited about your summer plans and a little apprehensive about the college application process. The good news is that having a college application timeline will help you stay on track and relieve a lot of stress (and the panic when you realize you’ve forgotten a major component at the last minute).

Start now and you’ll thank me later! This college application timeline will help you break down the components into manageable chunks so that you’ll feel calm and collected by the time deadlines come around.

July:

1. One of the first things you can get started on early in your college application timeline is the Activities List. Get the ball rolling by making a Master Resumé of all of the activities, interests, and awards from your high school career. Think outside the box here—don’t just write down the extracurriculars you’ve done for school, but also any independent projects you’ve completed or interests you developed.

Have you read of all of Jane Austen’s novels? Taught yourself Python? Become a master crossword puzzler? Any of these hobbies could contribute to your Activities List to show what makes you an interesting human. Once you have the Master Resumé, you can decide which are the top 10 that you’ll include in the Common Application and narrow your descriptions to the 150-character limit.

2. Take advantage of leisurely summer days to start brainstorming your Personal Statement topics. If you’re having writer’s block, you’re not alone. Start by asking yourself these 36 questions to generate thoughtful topics. Once the ideas are flowing, write a few sample paragraphs on several different topics so that you have more to choose from in order to craft a complete and varied application. Make sure to look at the Personal Statement prompts on the Common App so that you write about the best topic for you.

3. You’ve probably started to generally think about schools that interest you, but in July you should start actively building your college list. While this may (and probably should) change from the beginning of your process to the end, you’ll want to balance your list with a couple “reach” schools, several “fit” schools, and some “safety” schools as well. The summer is a great time to dig deep into college websites for information about the specific programs you’re interested in (Pro tip: keep a list of professors or programs that interest you. You might be able to use these in the school-specific supplemental essays).

4. College application timeline - key deadline: If you need to retake the SAT, registration for the August testing date is at the end of July (this year, it’s July 27). While there are still SAT dates in October and November that you can use, getting your last sitting out of the way in August will prevent stress when you’re working on other parts of the application (plus school, plus extracurriculars, plus….you get the idea). If you prefer the ACT, the registration deadline for the September ACT test date is August 10.

August:

1. August is the perfect time to create your Common Application account. Fill in all of the biographical information and begin to add schools to your profile. You’ll be able to see all of the supplemental essays for your colleges to know how many additional essays you’ll need to write.

2. Use August to make solid drafts of your Activities List and Personal Statement. These can definitely evolve as the year progresses, but it will make a huge difference to your sanity if you’ve made significant headway before school is in session!

3. Think strategically about which teachers you’ll ask to write your letters of recommendation. You’ll want to ask teachers who know you personally and who will be able to describe specific things that you contributed to their classrooms. Colleges really want to understand how you engage in the classroom, and your letters of recommendation are the best way they can find that out.

September:

1. Now that the “back to school” glow has faded, make sure to ask your teachers politely for letters of recommendation - early in the college application timeline. Approach them with a detailed cover letter asking them to highlight specific elements of your personality or classroom work that you think will help your application stand out. This may seem like overkill, but trust me here. Teachers will love having you suggest some things for them to write about because it will save them a boatload of time!

2. September is a great time to talk with your school about getting an unofficial transcript so that you have a better idea of exactly how you stand academically. Getting to know your college counselor is an added benefit; this very important adult will be writing a letter of recommendation for you.

3. You’ll also want to narrow down your School List and select which schools (if any) you’ll want to apply for Early Decision/Early Action. The Early application deadlines are approaching and if you decide where you want to apply, you can use September to work on supplemental essays. These supplemental essays demonstrate your “fit” with a college and how much you care about that particular school, so take time to tailor these to each college on your list. Many schools ask for a “Why X school” essay, so make sure that you include specific details about programs and professors that interest you. (Remember when you took notes of these as you researched your college list?)

October:

1. Send your SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Test, and AP score reports to all of your schools, but especially to your Early Decision/Action school(s). Take note that different schools have varying standardized testing requirements. Spend some time figuring out exactly which scores should be sent where and how each school on your list will analyze your test sittings. You should be able to leave out your lower scores at some schools if you pay attention to the requirements.

2. Put the final touches on your Personal Statement, Activities List, and any supplemental essays for your Early Decision/Action school(s). You’ll want all of these elements to showcase the amazing facets of YOU!

3. Submit all the components of your application for your Early Decision/Action school(s). Take a deep breath. You’ve made it way more than half of the way there!

November:

1. Even if you applied Early, you’ll want to keep up the good work so that you’re prepared to submit an application for Regular Decision if you don’t get into your Early school. Make a final version of your school list and keep chipping away at your supplemental essays so that you’re prepared for all outcomes!

December:

1. You’re almost there – this is the home stretch of the college application timeline. This is the time to polish all of your essays before you polish off a bunch of holiday treats. Think about asking friends and family to edit your essays because they’ll likely catch typos you may have missed. Some other great strategies include reading your essay out loud to check for flow and reading it backwards sentence by sentence to check for grammar or spelling flaws.

2. The lucky ones will get an acceptance letter from an Early Decision/Action school, and I hope you’re in that category! If not, you’re still in good shape because you’ve prepared all of your materials in advance. All you have to do as the ball drops on New Year’s Eve is press the submit button. If you do get deferred, the world is not ending! There are several actions you can take - like submitting a Letter of Continued Interest or sending an additional letter of recommendation.

January:

1. Wait, you thought you were done when you pressed submit? Sorry. You might still have alumni interviews to prepare for and schedule. Take these as opportunities not only to give schools an idea of your character but to ask questions about the personality of the school. Alumni love to get asked about their college experiences! Make sure you write a thank you note to your interviewer afterward.

February:

Crickets

March:

A symphony of crickets

(until the end of the month, when schools begin sending acceptance letters)

April:

At this point in the college application timeline, you should expect your acceptance letters to arrive by April 1. Of course, with any college application process, you should expect some rejections and waitlist letters, but focus on the positives of the schools that do accept you. Congratulations! You made it through and now you get to decide which school to attend. As you’re making this decision, be sure you’re making your choice based on which school is the best fit for you, not only on rankings or prestige. You might want to take time to visit (or re-visit) the schools which have accepted you to assess how you fit into their campus and how their programs will help you achieve your long-term goals.