Is your teen thinking about college? Here’s college application advice from a teen who’s done it.

Photo above by The Jopwell Collection via Unsplash. 

College. It’s what many people look to do after graduating high school. But how do you get there? How do you decide what school is right? Where do you even start when applying – or helping your child apply?

High schoolers might wish that someone could just tell them what to do, because that would make it easier. I know I felt that way. Finding a school was difficult and time consuming, but I learned a few helpful tricks to make it easier.

Here are some ideas that can help:

Finding the Right School

Go visit: Finding the right school is a bit like Goldilocks seeking the perfect bed. Take the time to tour different places and see different environments: Some might be too big or too small, some might be too urban and some are going to be too rural for you. But eventually, you’ll find the right fit and where you belong.

If you’re a high school senior this year (or your child is), you still have time to visit college campuses. It will help to do it relatively soon, since many schools have application deadlines in January. But some schools have “rolling admissions” with no deadlines. So you can visit those schools any time this winter.

Compare details: When I was choosing the schools I wanted to apply to, I made a list of the names of the universities, how far they were from my home, how much tuition costs, if they had the majors/minors I wanted, and any pros or cons I liked while touring.

I’m a big pro/con girl and this significantly helped me to narrow down my decision.

Tackling the Application

Facing the application: Filling out my college applications was one of the most daunting tasks I had to do senior year of high school. It felt like there was so much to do in so little time: I had to ask teachers for references, get my transcript of letter grades from the past 4 or 5 years of my life, think of clubs I had been in and much more.

Luckily I had people there to guide me through it. But what I really struggled with, was finding the motivation to actually fill them out.

I have never been big on change. And looking back, my lack of motivation was likely because I didn’t want my life to change. I didn’t want to leave my childhood room, my friends and family or the town where I grew up.

My biggest piece of advice for teens or parents of teens who are nervous about the change is to look for schools close to home. My parents knew of my discomfort for change and helped me to find a school that I liked, but was also close to home.

The school I ended up choosing is an hour and a half away — far enough to feel independent but close enough that I could easily come home if I needed to. They reassured me that I could always come home for a weekend or that my retired grandparents would be more than willing to come up for lunch or dinner if I needed or wanted them to.

Knowing that I could easily have a connection to home made it far easier to submit my applications and start the new chapter of my life.

Common App: I used a website called Common App to fill out my applications. It allows you to fill out one application and send it to as many schools as you’d like, as long as they are on the website.

Not every school I applied to was featured on Common App, so I did have to go to those universities’ websites for an application. But Common App made the rest of my application process easier.

I looked over all of the information needed for the Common App (or the individual application for a particular school) and made a list, dividing it into different categories. One section was about my grades and test scores. Another was hobbies I was into and clubs I was in. With all these things on a list, I could gather all my information and then type it all into the application.

When should you apply?

Another big piece of advice for current and upcoming seniors: Do your applications early and in one sitting. Pick a day or an afternoon to sit with your parents, a teacher or by yourself and fill out every application for the schools you like.

I really recommend getting them done early just to get them out of the way. Fall can be a busy time for high schoolers, but getting my applications in before November meant I didn’t have to think about them during Thanksgiving or Christmas break. I could just relax. It also meant that assuming I got accepted, I could ask for my college’s apparel for Christmas!

If you’re a senior this year and have missed the “early action” deadline at your schools of choice, that’s OK: You can still get your applications done in the next few weeks (maybe over Thanksgiving break), so that you can go into the winter holidays with all that work done.

The Essay

One big component of every college application is the essay. Surprisingly, many schools don’t require an essay anymore. But I strongly recommend writing one just to stand out against the crowd.

Not sure what to write about: Choose something that you are passionate about, like a favorite hobby or something you’ve put effort into learning about. Maybe describe a unique experience you’ve had and what you learned from it. Write about whatever feels true to you, because this is your college essay. It is about your life and no one can write it better than you.

My essay was about how important reading/libraries were to me. People told me that I should write about something more related to my major (fashion design). I tried that and it didn’t feel right.

Although I love fashion and designing, reading has been one of my first hobbies and it has always been special to me. So when writing about fashion, it felt like I was writing what I thought the college wanted to hear instead of writing about what I wanted to tell them.

Writing about a lifelong passion felt more true to myself and a better expression of my character than writing about the passion I had for my major.

Of course, this doesn’t mean to ignore people’s comments or creative criticism. Always ask somebody to proofread your work and ask for suggestions. I recommend having multiple proof-readers to get every perspective you can. But be sure to always stay true to you.

Even if you don’t have someone to proofread, read your essay aloud and see how it sounds. It might seem weird to hear yourself reading it, but reading your work aloud truly helps you know how it will sound when someone else reads it.

College applications can be daunting and stressful. But trust me, the payout is worth it. Even though I’ve only been at my college for a few months, these have been the best months of my life. The stress I went through when filling applications feels like a blip now, overshadowed by the life I have because of making this effort.