With the deadlines rapidly approaching. Many seniors are feeling very overwhelmed about the many different things due. I spoke with our college counselors about how to handle this overwhelming time.
What are your tips for narrowing down which colleges to apply to?
The main tip is to establish your priorities and goals for your time at college. Some things you may want to consider is how you want your college life to play out. Some questions to help guide you are: Why do you want to go to college? What are three or four things you want to accomplish when you are in college? And what types of people do you want to live and study with? You want to get a sense of what you do and don’t like about the colleges you visit. The counselors recommend that you schedule multiple college tours at the main colleges you are interested in. These tours can help you to figure out what life on campus is like and if you can see yourself living there.
Make sure you have a set list of “safety schools” that you are likely to get into to. These “safety schools” are schools that are in your academic reach. The counselors also recommend that you include in state colleges on your college list, especially if you are planning on going out of state. Your college list should be 8-10 schools, but applying to 5-7 schools is encouraged.
What are some tips for feeling overwhelmed about picking colleges?
These feelings of being overwhelmed can be alleviated if you focus on self-reflection and organization. The core of your college choice has to start with your needs and your must haves. Then create a plan to manage college application: develop your list of schools, utilize your Scoir app, use a system like a spread sheet to stay organized.
The biggest tip is to take a deep breath and meet with your college counselors.
