College Admissions: Final Tips

Finally, the day has come when the College Admissions series is over. The final installment is all about little tips and tricks that I overlooked in the process of filming the previous five segments.Here is a quick review of the five extras that I discussed.

1. Keep a record of your activity.
This a good step to take simply because it'll help you keep track of important deadlines as well as making sure that you stick to a plan that you had started out with. To help you out, I created a rough copy of what I'd call a College Application: Status worksheet. Since it has been a year--and since I deleted the one I actually used--this one may be a little simplified, but feel free to make changes to fit your needs.

2. Go on college tours.
I believe I mentioned this before, but if it wasn't for a college tour, I wouldn't be going to the school that I am. Take tours to the colleges that you are on the fence about, the ones that have yet to convince you to take the step to apply. The reason being that it will expand your options. If you visit and find that you hate the campus, then you can rest assured and skip out on the application. If, however, you fall in love, then you will still have time to apply. It doesn't matter whether you go and visit your dream school because if what you've read about is enough then just apply. Later on, if you are accepted you can check out the campus and decided for yourself.


3. Take the SAT/ACT (or both) at least twice.
The basic rule is this: take the SAT/ACT during your junior year, and then take it again at the beginning of senior year. All this is a security measure to make sure that your best efforts are taken into consideration. While your junior year SAT/ACT score may be stellar, you never know if you can do better and that's just something to keep in mind.

4. Keep your schools private.
No, I don't mean apply to only private universities. What I mean to say is that you shouldn't disclose all of the schools that you are applying to. This is something difficult to accomplish--especially in the beginning of the year, but try to accomplish it nevertheless. If you talk about your colleges with such ease and don't care what other people think, than you can disregard this tip. However, I've found that even the most confident individuals sometimes have doubts about their colleges because of the people's reaction to it. While in an ideal world, the judgement of others wouldn't hold such a significant impact on our future, there is no reason to give it an opportunity to flourish. Keep it private, keep it personal.


5. Don't stress out!
While this concerns your future, there is no reason to be freaking out about college applications. If you take all the proper steps and listen to the advice offered (while discerning what's actually important), then you should be in very good shape. Just remember, that no matter what happens, the goal is to obtain a higher education--not just to get accepted to a particular school.

Thus we come to a close about college applications. If, for whatever reason, there was a topic that I forgot just leave me a comment either here or on YouTube.

Have a fantastic day and good luck to you all!