College Application Timeline - January 2019

Happy New Year!! Congrats to all those who have already received letters of admission and scholarships from the colleges where they applied either Early Decision, Early Action or Priority. But, unless you applied Early Decision, don’t stop now. The next big due date is only five days away on January 1st, the better known of all the application due dates, especially for regular admission to many highly selective colleges and universities.

However, if you are still not satisfied with the admission results, consider the second round of Early Decision II and Early Action II.  Those deadlines are now so you  must act quickly if interested. Early Decision II is also binding, and Early Action II still offers applicants the chance to review financial aid packages before making that final decision. 

Even if you have a few notifications of admission in your hand, there’s still much more to do and consider in the application process.

•  Deferred or waitlisted - You have been deferred or wait listed?? Understand the differences between these two and what your options are.

•  FAFSA - The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and the the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE are now available online. All students planning to attend college in the Fall should begin filling the necessary one out and submitting it as soon as possible. Financial aid packages are calculated using the information on the FAFSA so get this form filled out and submitted quickly. Check when the financial aid deadlines are for the schools on your college list - do not miss them. 

•  Check the status of your applications - Incomplete applications will not be evaluated, delaying a decision. It is the student's responsibility to check if the schools have received all the necessary documents. Colleges will notify you by email if there is something missing or students can check directly on the college's website regularly. This is especially important for international students for whom getting missing documents tends to take longer.  

•  Scholarships - Students should never stop looking for extra funds to pay for tuition. Check here for scholarships with January deadlines.

• Thank you - For those students who are all done with their college application process, please take the time to thank those that have helped you with your applications. Whether in the form of a card, note or email, let these people know that you acknowledge their efforts: it's the right thing to do. It doesn't take long and very much appreciated.

• Do not forget to notify those schools that you will not attend. Once the scolleges have calculated their yield, if needed they will be turn to their wait lists in hopes of filling those empty spots. If you are currently wait listed somewhere this could be YOU!!

•  Haven't even started thinking college yet?? - Well, you're in luck because there are still over 100 colleges and universities with application deadlines in January and February. Your 'perfect' school might be on this list.

The balance of the bullet points for January are identical to those every month:

• Don't miss ANY deadline

• Take the time needed to write a good essay - long or short

• Always keep your guidance counselor informed

• Lastly, keep those grades up. This is not the time to drop the ball with your school work .Colleges have been known to rescind an offer if there is a drastic drop in grades, they’ve discovered inaccuracies or there have been disciplinary issues.

To all my readers, thank you, for your support over the past year and I look forward to continuing to guide more of you through the college application process this coming year. And remember, help with your any part of the application process is only an email away, so don’t hesitate to reach out.