College Planning for Juniors: How to Prepare for the College Application Process
High school juniors are at a pivotal stage in the college application process. While senior year gets the spotlight, much of the prep work should happen NOW. Here’s a short guide to get you started on your college planning.
START NOW!
High school juniors are at a pivotal stage in the college application process.
While senior year gets the spotlight, much of the prep work should happen NOW. Here’s a short guide to get you started on your college planning.
1. Evaluate Your Academic Standing
Colleges will closely review your grades and the rigor of your coursework. Depending on which country, college and program you are applying to, you may be required to have certain courses to be eligible or competitive. It is important you are on track to meet those requirements now while there is still time.
Grades: Focus on maintaining strong grades, particularly in challenging courses like AP, dual enrollment, or IB courses.
Course Selection: Ensure your coursework aligns with your future academic interests, goals, AND potential admissions requirements.
2. Research Colleges
Begin exploring potential colleges. You don’t need to finalize your list yet, but gather information on a range of schools that meet your academic and non-academic criteria. A great place to start researching colleges is Peterson’s, but remember the most accurate information will come from the colleges themselves.
Build College List: Include a mix of reach, match, and safety schools
Factors to Consider: Location, campus culture, size, academic offerings, student support, and career services are just a few of the important factors you should consider. Evaluate what is important for your personal college search.
Plan Campus Visits: Don’t wait for summer break to begin visiting campuses. Plan visits now while students are on campus to give you a better sense of the culture and life there. It is important to visit campuses to gain a better idea of what you want and don’t want from your future college.
3. Prepare for Standardized Tests
If you plan to take the SAT or ACT, start preparing now. Plan to take the test at least twice this spring and summer to meet fall deadlines. While most colleges are test-free or test-optional, remember that more and more schools are shifting back to requiring testing. Research the testing requirements of your potential colleges as you plan.
Test Dates: Register at least six weeks in advance for the SAT or ACT as space is limited and some locations get full early.
Study Tools: Consider prep books, online resources, or tutoring if necessary – do what works best for your personal study habits and schedule. Check out my post with great tips and resources for preparing for the SAT.
4. Engage in Extracurriculars
Colleges want to see students who are involved outside of the classroom. Focus on quality over quantity. I recommend creating a student resume now so that you can see the full picture of your activities starting from grade nine. Consider where your strengths and weaknesses are and how you want to present yourself to colleges.
Leadership: Seek leadership roles or greater involvement in your activities.
Passions: Continue deepening your commitment to activities that align with your interests.
Exploration: Investigate options to help with choosing your college major and career options while building your resume.
5. Build Strong Relationships with Teachers
Letters of recommendation will most likely be a necessary part of your application. Build connections with teachers who can write detailed and supportive letters.
Participate in Class: Engage with teachers to build meaningful relationships.
Ask Early: Approach teachers in the spring for recommendation letters. More information about recommendation letters can be found here.
6. Start Thinking About Essays
College essays are an opportunity to show who you are beyond your academics. Now is a great time to begin brainstorming potential topics. Review the past Common Application essay prompts and think about what topics may be good fits for you.
Personal Statement: Review the personal statement prompts and begin generating ideas. Reflect on your experiences, challenges, and personal growth.
Supplemental Essays: Look at past supplemental essay prompts for your potential colleges and remember to plan in extra time to write them this summer.
7. Plan for Financial Aid
Start thinking about how you’ll fund your college education NOW.
Net Price Calculators: Work with your family to complete net price calculators for colleges of interest. This will give you a general idea of your potential costs.
Scholarships: Research potential scholarships available to juniors and start applying.
FAFSA and CSS Profile: Do your research to understand the financial aid process and what forms and documentation are needed.
8. Stay Organized
Unfortunately, the college application process is not simple, stay on top of deadlines and requirements.
Create a Timeline: Plan out your tasks for the next year. From test prep to application submission deadlines, include everything.
Track Materials Needed: Create an excel sheet or system that works for you to organize and keep track of all application requirements such as essays, activity descriptions, transcripts, financial aid documents, and testing.
Final Thoughts
Junior year is crucial for setting up a smooth college application process. By focusing on academics, extracurriculars, college research, and relationships now, you’ll be in a great position to tackle your college applications senior year. The work you do this year will lay the foundation for successful applications and ultimately help you find the right college fit. If you would like expert college counseling, now is a great time to contact us.
How to Apply to the UCs
Students who want to apply to any of the nine UC campus must use the UC application. Unfortunately, it is a separate application with different activity descriptions and writing requirements than the Common Application. This year, the deadline for fall semester applications is December 2. Start early; do not underestimate the time it will take to complete it well!
To complete the UC application you need:
Transcript for entering courses and grades
SSN (if available) and contact information
Test scores – IB, AP, English Proficiency and/or other international exams (NOT SAT OR ACT)
Activities List
Responses to 4 Personal Insight Questions (PIQs)
Campuses and Majors Section
You will select a major for each campus you apply to. Keep in mind that each campus offers varying majors and/or names the majors differently. They have tried to make it easier for you to find your major by listing some of them under multiple categories. You will also be able to select an alternative major but note that some campuses do not consider alternative majors for certain first-choice major selections if at all. Do your research as to how campuses consider these majors and how impacted each major is at your campus(es) of choice.
Ex. UC SB does not admit by major except for Engineering (strongly suggest picking a non-engineering backup major). UC Berkeley rarely considers the second-choice major listed.
Important notes: Campuses do not collaborate on their admissions decisions nor consider which other campuses a student has applied to. Some majors require supplements to the application and these will be visible once the student selects their major in the application.
Academic History Section
All grades are self-reported through the application and transcripts are not accepted. You will enter all grades from all courses taken in grades 9-12 including repeated courses. If you took a high school-level math or language course other than English in 7th or 8th grade, you can include them. There are no +/- used. Students are expected to meet the A-G requirements outlined here.
The UCs use their own calculation to determine what GPA a student has. The GPA only includes 10th and 11th grade; this includes courses taken in the summer after 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. They will recalculate GPAs for applicants, no need to try to calculate it yourself. However, if you want to get an idea of what your UC GPA is, you can use the UC A-G list to verify which courses are given weight.
Activities and Awards Section
You can enter up to 20 activities from grades 9-12 in six categories:
Award or honor
Educational preparation program
Extracurricular activity
Work experience
Other coursework
Volunteering / Community service
The prompts for how you will describe each of these vary by type of activity. Use the space wisely and describe the activities efficiently, highlighting your specific contribution. You have 350 characters for this. You do not have to use full sentences. Also, note that the activities are numbered but not ranked, so the order in which they are listed is not important.
If you were not able to participate in many activities due to lack of availability or personal circumstances, you can share that with admissions in the Activities & Awards and Additional Comments sections. If you take a gap year or are a transfer student, you can select the ‘after 12th grade’ option to enter activities post-12th grade.
Scholarships and Support Section
The options available here will vary depending on which campuses you select to apply to. You will select all criteria that apply to you and then see which scholarships are available depending on the responses. The responses to these prompts are not considered in the admission decision. They are used solely to determine eligibility for scholarships.
You can also apply for the Education Opportunity Program (EOP), a program for first-generation and/or low-income students that offers additional support resources such as mentoring and financial assistance.
Personal Insight Questions (PIQs) Section
Students will select four of the eight PIQs to respond to. Each response can be up to 350 words. The same responses will be sent to ALL campuses you apply to and can not be changed for each school. These questions are your opportunity to share details not seen anywhere else in the application. This is your chance to show the colleges who you are and what is important to you.
Additional Information Section
This section should be used to provide information about extenuating circumstances or details that could not be shared elsewhere; this can be academic and non-academic information. Examples of this may be an explanation of the high school coursework available to you, family crises, or lack of activities available in your area.
Start early, take the time to research which campus(es) and majors are right for you, and craft thoughtful and thorough activity descriptions and PIQ responses. If you are a younger student, consider the A-G requirements early and make a plan to meet them. It is important to start thinking about how you will strengthen your academic and extracurricular profiles early. For guidance on your college planning and additional assistance with your applications, contact us.
FAQs
1. Does the UC require test scores?
Test scores are not required for admission to the UCs. They will consider scores from AP, IB, English Proficiency, and other international exams but NOT ACT or SAT scores. Submitting unofficial scores is fine.
2. Does the UC require recommendation letters?
No, however, as part of an extended review process or if you apply for select scholarships, you may be asked to submit one.
3. How many UC campuses can I apply to?
You can apply to as many as you want.
4. What are the English Language Proficiency requirements for the UCs?
There are many ways to demonstrate English proficiency. Take a look at the updated list of accepted exams here.
Advice for Deferred Applications
If you applied early to colleges, you may soon be very familiar with the word deferral. While most of the nation’s colleges noted a decrease in early applicants this year, early applications to the elite schools actually increased significantly. What does it mean? Being deferred basically means the school wants to reconsider you along with the next pool of candidates in regular decision. It is not a denial.
If you applied early to colleges, you may soon be very familiar with the word deferral. While most of the nation’s colleges noted a decrease in early applicants this year, early applications to the elite schools actually increased significantly. Some schools such as Duke, Yale and Dartmouth actually received historical high numbers. As these numbers of applications rose this year, so did the number of deferrals. Getting deferred is unfortunately quite common and this year even more so.
What does it mean? Being deferred basically means the school wants to reconsider you along with the next pool of candidates in regular decision. It is not a denial. They will take into context the profiles of the regular decision applicants along with any additional information you send about yourself and make their final decision in the next round. While the regular decision pool is typically not quite as strong as that of early application, there are many more applications to consider. Many colleges typically defer around half of their early applications to the regular decision pool. Some such as Georgetown actually defer all students who were not accepted in the early application period (nearly 90% of their early applicants this year). Statistics on the percentage of students deferred and then eventually accepted are hard to come by, but in general, the numbers are not high.
What should you do? Many schools will give you specific requests for more information such as updated grades, additional letters of recommendation or details on activities. Whatever they ask, make sure you follow. If they do not make any requests, you should be certain to maintain or improve your grades and submit any new materials which would enhance your application along with a letter to admissions reaffirming your interest.
Keep in mind that if you are deferred, you are no longer required to attend that college if eventually accepted. You can continue to apply to other colleges of via regular decision. If you no longer wish to be considered, inform the college of your decision and free up that space for another student. Remember, being deferred is basically a second chance for consideration, but you should definitely give yourself other options.
Tips to get your Essays Started
The college application essay has long been a valuable part of the admissions review process. Right behind academic performance which includes grades, rigor of curriculum and test scores, the essay(s) continue to be important. While this importance varies by the college you apply to, it is typically given more attention by private colleges. With many colleges becoming Test-Optional for the 2020-21 application cycle and beyond, the essay will most likely get more attention than in previous years.
The college application essay has long been a valuable part of the admissions review process. Right behind academic performance which includes grades, rigor of curriculum and test scores, the essay(s) continue to be important. While this importance varies by the college you apply to, it is typically given more attention by private colleges. With many colleges becoming Test-Optional for the 2020-21 application cycle and beyond, the essay will most likely get more attention than in previous years.
Some colleges simply require the common application personal statement, but many require supplemental essays tailored specifically to them as well. By now, almost all colleges have confirmed their supplemental essay topics, and the common application and coalition application prompts are out and ready to be tackled. Depending on your list of schools, you will most likely need to write more than one essay. So, if you have not gotten started by now, it is time! Here are my tips to kick off your personal statement:
Don't Focus on the Prompt – For the personal statement, think about YOUR story or something you really want to share and it will most likely fit. Don't forget there is always the Topic of Your Choice if what you end up choosing does not truly fit a prompt.
Be YOU – The goal is to help admissions get to know you and pretending to be someone you are not or someone you think they want you to be is not helping anyone. This is your chance to share something about you that can not be found anywhere else in the application or something that is really significant to you.
Start EARLY – The essay topics are out, why not begin now? For many students, the idea of sitting down to write such an important essay (or maybe any essay at all) seems daunting. However, delaying it is not going to make it any better. Starting early not only gives you more opportunity to write a quality essay, it also gives you time to really consider what you want to share with admissions. Some students end up writing several entirely different essays before they arrive at ‘the one’ they are happy with, and that takes TIME.
Brainstorm – You may have an idea or two in mind when you take a quick glance at the prompts, but it is time to dig deeper. Doing some excellent brainstorming activities can be really helpful for coming up with a good focus for your essay. I highly recommend the exercises from Ethan Sawyer, The College Essay Guy. His Essence Objects and Values exercises are great. If you are still drawing a blank, take a few days off and come back to it. But sometimes it takes actually sitting down and writing the first draft before you realize the essay topic will or won’t work. While it isn’t ideal, it is better to get rid of it before you spend too much time trying to make it into something it just can’t be.
Make it Personal and Entertaining – You want the readers to remember you after your essay and be able to connect you with YOUR story. You also want them to want to finish reading it. Give them details, use adjectives, don’t be repetitive, dig deep and you will be fine. Admissions readers get many essays on the same topic and sometimes on the most mundane subjects, but the way they were written turned them into something special. Ask anyone in admissions what their favorite essays were about and you may be surprised.
Get Feedback but not too Much - It is definitely a good idea to have someone read over your essay to check for grammatical errors and get an overall opinion. However, do not forget this is YOUR essay. Sometimes getting too many opinions ends up leaving you more confused than helped. Ask someone you trust for an honest opinion, triple check your grammar and be done!
Need some inspiration? There are many ‘successful’ essays out there for you to read. Take a look at a few of them and maybe it will spark an idea. Just remember, it is about YOU.
Resources:
https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/college-essay-examples
https://essaysthatworked.com/colleges?opt-out=true
https://apply.jhu.edu/application-process/essays-that-worked/
https://admissions.tufts.edu/apply/advice/past-essays/common-application-essays/
https://www.collegeessayguy.com/personal-statement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=ZF4DErhsLvQ&feature=emb_logo
Choosing a Major (or not)
About half of students choose a major on their college application, but many times they make the decision without much research or thought. Here are some helpful steps students can take both before and after arriving on campus to aide in making the decision of what to study:
About half of students choose a major on their college application, but many times they make the decision without much research or thought. Even if they have put thought into it, how many 17 year olds truly know what they want to do? Nearly 1/3 of students who actually declare majors end up changing them within 3 years of enrolling. For most colleges, entering as a freshman undeclared is not viewed negatively, yet students feel pressured to choose a major before they apply. Here are some helpful steps students can take both before and after arriving on campus to aide in making the decision of what to study:
Career and Personality Assessments: students should complete career and personality assessments while in high school to help them consider careers and majors which align with their personality traits, interests, aptitudes and abilities. There are many different assessments available, but completing 1-2 will at least get you thinking about what may be a good match. Often, they open students’ minds to careers they had not considered before and at least get them thinking about it.
Job Shadow: students often pick careers based on what someone in their family does or what they hear pays well versus on actual personal experience. Participating in a few job shadows while you are still in high school is a great way to get in-person experience in a job without committing your future to it. It may only take a few minutes or hours to confirm or cancel a job interest. At the very least, it will gain you better insight to the career and give you possible connections for mentoring and career advice.
On Campus Advising: finding an advisor who is familiar with your academic programs of interest and career goals is very important once you get on campus. If you do not know what you want, having an advisor to help guide your exploration is also important. They can make sure you stay on track with taking classes to graduate on time and make suggestions to help you refine your choices. Often, they have valuable personal experience to offer insight on potential careers and connections for further development. Research your potential colleges and make good advising a MUST HAVE on your list.
Major Exploration Programs: while building your college list, consider schools which have programs that allow students to explore their options more freely. Many colleges do not make students actually declare a major until end of sophomore year. Brown is particularly well known for its ‘open curriculum’ as students do not have to declare a ‘concentration’ until their 4th semester. They have much more flexibility to take classes in a variety of subjects before deciding what they want to focus on. Ohio State offers several pathways for students who are undecided such as the University Exploration program which allows students to sample a variety of classes and gives them academic counselors to help them make their choice. At Cornell, all students who enter the Engineering program are ‘undeclared’ and do not have to select a specific Engineering major until sophomore year. They are able to spend their first year exploring the various engineering fields and can get advising to help them decide. These are just a few examples of options available to students who need more time to decide and are important to research before choosing your college.
Northeastern’s Application
Some schools do not ask students to choose a major on their application or only ask them to choose a division within the school. If they do ask, entering undeclared is OKAY aside from a few exceptions. Top business programs, computer science and engineering are particularly notorious for being hard to switch into for students who originally chose something else. In those instances, I would highly recommend declaring the major and at least giving yourself a chance to explore it. Sometimes students are afraid to declare a competitive major as acceptance to these programs is often much more difficult than others, but do you really want to go to a school where you risk being denied access to the major and courses you want?
Whatever you decide to declare (or not), make sure you are choosing a college which offers most if not all of the potential programs you are interested in. Do your research on the advising offered, opportunities for exploration, and variety of programs of study available. It can vary significantly and you want to do anything you can graduate on time and eliminate the possibility of needing or wanting to transfer.
Additional Resources
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/24/study-finds-students-benefit-waiting-declare-major
Free Career and Personality Assessments
https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
https://www.princetonreview.com/quiz/career-quiz
https://ucango2.org/publications/student/Career_Interest_Survey.pdf
The SSAR
What is it?
The Self-reported Student Academic Record is basically a student’s transcripts in another format completed by the student instead of the high school. It is used as a substitute for official transcripts at several schools in Florida including University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University, University of North Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Polytechnic University and The New College. Students complete this record by inputting their high school courses attempted and/or taken and their respective grades including the courses in progress senior year.
The SSAR
What is it?
The Self-reported Student Academic Record is basically a student’s transcripts in another format completed by the student instead of the high school. It is used as a substitute for official transcripts during the initial college application review process at several schools in Florida including University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University, University of North Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Polytechnic University and The New College. Students complete this record by inputting their high school courses attempted and/or taken and their respective grades including the courses in progress senior year.
Why do schools use it?
In Florida, UF began using the SSAR in 2013 and several schools have followed since then. They adopted it in order to streamline the process of connecting transcripts to applications. Instead of waiting for transcripts to be sent from the high schools, students’ SSARs are able to be connected directly to their applications. In addition to linking the students’ academic records to their applications more efficiently, the SSAR allows colleges to sort through transcripts easily as the data was manually entered by the student in a standard form instead of being sent as a non-standardized document from the school. While many students complain about the tedious work of data entry, others say it relieves stress as they are now in control and do not need to rely on the school to send their transcripts on time.
When should students complete it?
The SSAR is a regular and essential piece of the college application to the schools which require it. College applications are not considered complete until the SSAR is received along with everything else. Students should complete it while they are working on their applications and ensure it is submitted to the colleges by the admission deadline they are aiming for. While some colleges such as UF will accept the SSAR a few weeks after the early application deadlines, it makes the most sense to finish it all at the same time and avoid the risk of having an incomplete application. So if you are applying for a November 1 priority deadline, get it in by then, etc.
How is it completed?
Before starting the SSAR, students need to obtain a copy of their high school transcript to use for the data entry. They will then create an account on the SSAR website and begin entering the information. Once complete, they should double-check for any errors before submitting. Connecting the SSAR to the application varies by college. Several schools have students connect it after they have submitted their application by logging into their student account where they check their application status and inputting their individual SSAR code. Others send students an email with a link to log in to their SSAR account and connect it to their application. Students should regularly check their email and application status pages for each college to ensure they have complete applications.
What if a mistake is made?
As long as the mistake or course change is corrected before the application is reviewed and/or before the application deadline, you can log in to your SSAR account and make the changes. If you are too late, you should call the admissions office at your chosen colleges to inform them of the errors. If you made a slight error and do not catch it, it will most likely have no affect on your application. However, if it appears that you intentionally inflated grades or did/did not list courses taken, your application will be thrown out. Do your best to accurately input the information. Students who have been accepted and plan on enrolling at colleges which require the SSAR will have to send in their official transcripts to verify the information they entered on the SSAR.
Tips for the College Application Essays
While many rising seniors are not quite focused on their college applications, there are many pieces they can and should begin to take care of now. The essay is one of them. Many colleges have not released their supplemental essay topics, but the common application and coalition application essays are out and ready to be tackled. Here are my tips to get you started:
While many rising seniors are not quite focused on their college applications, there are many pieces they can and should begin to take care of now. The essay is one of them. Some colleges have not yet released their supplemental essay topics, but the common application and coalition application essays are out and ready to be tackled. Here are my tips to get you started:
Don't Focus on the Prompt – For the basic common app. or coalition essays, think about your story or something you want to share and it will most likely fit. Don't forget there is always the Topic of Your Choice if needed.
Be YOU – If you have not heard this by now, you should have. The whole idea is to help admissions get to know you and pretending to be someone you are not or someone you think they want you to be is not helping anyone. This is your chance to share something about you that can not be found anywhere else in the application.
Start EARLY – The essay topics are out, why not begin now? For many students, the idea of sitting down to write such an important essay (or maybe any essay at all) seems daunting. However, delaying it is not going to make it any better. Starting early not only gives you more opportunity to write a quality essay, it also gives you time to really consider what you want to share with admissions. Some students end up writing several entirely different essays before they arrive to the one they are happy with and that takes TIME.
Brainstorm – You may have an idea or two in mind when you take a quick glance at the prompts, but it is time to dig deeper. Doing some excellent brainstorming activities can be really helpful for coming up with a good focus for your essay. I highly recommend the exercises from Ethan Sawyer, The College Essay Guy. His Essence Objects and Values exercises are great. If you are still drawing a blank, take a few days off and come back to it.
Make it Personal and Entertaining – You want the readers to remember you after your essay and be able to connect you with YOUR story. You also want them to want to finish reading it. Give them details, use adjectives, don’t be repetitive, dig deep and you will be fine. Admissions readers get many essays on the same topic and sometimes on the most mundane subjects, but the way they were written turned them into something special. Ask anyone in admissions what their favorite essays were about and you may be surprised.
Get Feedback but not too Much – It is definitely a good idea to have someone read over your essay to check for grammatical errors and get an overall opinion. However, do not forget this is YOUR essay. Sometimes getting too many opinions ends up leaving you more confused than helped. Ask someone you trust for an honest opinion, triple check your grammar, and be done!