4 Ways to Plan Ahead for a Low-Stress Admissions Process

1. Plan college visits for well before fall of Senior year

College visits can be a daunting process, especially if you leave it all to Junior year. We recommend beginning to visit colleges during Sophomore year. This will give you ample time to fit these visits into busy schedules, take your time at each visit to ask questions and really get to know if a potential college is a good fit for your child. You’ll then also have much more time to evaluate the specifics of each college as far as admissions requirements, financial aid options, etc. which will help you whittle your list down to a best- fit 9-10 (see tip #3). Planning ahead means you won’t have to scramble to fit in dozens of visits in 9 months, and that you can take your time thinking through your options, all of which will make for a much more successful, less stressful application season.

2. Avoid the temptation to apply to dozens of colleges

While the current state of college admissions may make you feel as if you need to apply to many schools to give your child good odds of success, the reality is that this is a great example of when to work smarter, not harder. Some schools will be a better fit for your child than others, and within those, various application requirements might be better to showcase your child’s strengths and help them stand out (for example: test scores, GPA, AP

classes, extracurriculars).

After college visits, aim to have a list of 9-10 colleges your child will ultimately apply to: three “safeties”, three reasonably ambitious options, and three reaches, with room to add in one more to any of those categories if your child has an extra school they really love. Doing your homework as described above should leave you with a shorter list of schools with a higher probability of admissions, rather than a huge list to apply to in the hopes of getting into one. Not only will this save you and your child a ton of time and money by not having to complete dozens of applications and associated fees, you’ll also have a better probability of success for having chosen your target schools wisely.

3. Start thinking about the college essay towards the end of Junior year

Once you’ve created your list of best-fit colleges in each category, you’ll be aware of the essay requirements for your child’s application. Some colleges will only require one main essay while others may also require supplemental essays. The simple act of listing out the essay questions required by each college will give your student more time to think about them, and by beginning drafting the essays towards the end of Junior year and during the summer before Senior year, your student will have much more time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. As with our other tips, this will avoid a scramble to write 10 essays during the fall of Senior year which is busy enough as it is, and give your student a much better likelihood of writing a successful essay.

4. Consider working with a college admissions counselor

College admissions counselors have in-depth knowledge of the current admissions process, including how each college creates their cohorts and changing admissions criteria. This means they can help create an application plan that focuses on your specific student’s

strengths and challenges to create an ideal list of universities to apply to AND create a clear

plan on how to prepare for maximum success.

If working with a counselor isn’t an option for you right now, begin doing your own research early. Be sure your child visits their college counselor at their school, visit the blogs of college admissions counselors (like this one!) and consider signing up for emails to receive useful information on the admissions process and how to prepare.

Our VIP and Masterclasses in Admissions help break down the overwhelming amount of information available to parents into clear actions that will help you understand the process so you can plan for your child’s success.