Applying to college can be a very daunting time in a high schooler’s life. There are numerous aspects of the college application process that are important to know and understand. Although all of this may seem scary at first, there are steps everyone can take to simplify their application experience and have success getting into the schools of their choice. 

To begin, hiring a college counselor is always a good idea. In most cases, a high schooler will not want to tackle the logistics of scheduling school tours, creating a Common App account, writing their essay, and applying to different colleges by themselves. Luckily, college counselors can help you dive into all of this. A number of options for counselors are available across the South Shore. For the vast majority of students, hiring a college counselor will prove completely worth it, and is an excellent way to start the process of finding a college. 

Secondly, defining what you want in a school is a crucial step in the application process. This is a great conversation to have both with your parents and college counselor. Some beginning questions to ask would be: “How big of a school do I want to go to?” “Where do I want this college to be located?” “What do I want to study in college?” “Do I want Greek life”. By making a preliminary list of wants for a school, you will be far better prepared to make the most of your school tours and eventual decisions of where to apply. 

Moving on, the third step to take is to focus a considerable amount of effort on essays. Primarily, your personal essay. This essay is what allows the admissions committee to get to know you as a person, and is an extremely important aspect of your application as a whole. Make sure to select a subject to write about that truly speaks to who you are, and what you could potentially bring to the campus of the school you’re applying to. The teachers in the English department will look over and grade your essay, but make sure to have your parents and college counselor look over the essay as well. 

Next, make sure to apply to a wide range of schools. Senior Jack Maurer explains that his chances of getting into a school were much better due to the well rounded portfolio of colleges he applied to. “I made sure to get a good amount of safeties, targets, and reaches on my list” he says. By diversifying your list, the chances of getting into more colleges greatly increases. 

Finally, manage your time well. Senior Tadd Cavanaugh stated “It was so much easier to manage my application without getting too stressed when I managed my time well”. This could mean staying on top of supplemental essays, not waiting to fill out the questions on the Common App, and doing school tours on the earlier side. 

College applications no longer have to seem like a complicated and scary process. Everyone is capable of reaching their potential for college, and putting together a strong application.