Putting the Finishing Touches on Your Application
Congratulations! You’ve written the essays, you’ve reported your grades and you’ve told us about your involvement. You are just about done with the application process, but there are some final things you should think about before and after you hit the submit button.
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
I know you’re probably already rolling your eyes because you’ve heard this a hundred times, but it is important to make sure that everything in your application is correct. Not just when it comes to your written responses, but with your extracurriculars and with your self-reported grades too. For example, it’s a red flag if your self-reported grades don’t correspond with your actual high school transcript. As for extracurriculars, make sure your descriptions make sense and that the time involvement you put for each activity is a reasonable estimate. Now, students will not be denied just for making one grammatical mistake, but this process is about attention to detail. Before you hit submit, have one other person look over your application to check for any small mistakes.
Check the Extra Materials!
Besides the actual application itself, many colleges require additional materials. Here at USC, we ask students to provide one letter of recommendation from a counselor or a teacher and any high school and/or college transcripts. Some of our majors may require a portfolio or audition. If you are curious about what else your major might require, head over to your major’s’ academic department website for more information. We also ask all of our applicants to sign an Application Affirmation Statement, which will be available in your admissions portal after you apply. Finally, you’ll need to send us your Fall grades once those become available. Every college will list their application checklist somewhere on their admission website, so you should be able to find a list of extra materials with a quick Google search.
Is Your Application You?
Most schools don’t do interviews, so the only way we get to “meet” our prospective applicants is through the application. Make sure your application contains everything that you want us to know about you! Sure, the essays, transcripts and activities that we require you to submit will tell us a lot, but sometimes students have special circumstances that they want to include. The Common Application has an Additional Information section which, while not a space for another essay, is a place where you can briefly explain important contextual information that you may have not already talked about. Typically, this includes things like medical issues, family problems or other types of personal circumstances that have affected your grades or your ability to participate in activities. The more you tell us, the more we can understand who you are and what you’ve done during your high school career. You can read more about how to use that section here.
Setting Your Deadline
The hardest part of submitting your application might be hitting the submit button itself. So, instead of pushing it off and waiting until the last minute to submit, give yourself an earlier deadline (at least a few days earlier) to submit your college application. Besides being extra stressful, waiting until the last minute provides an opportunity for things outside of your control to affect your application, such as power outages or websites crashing. Make sure to keep a list of all the deadlines for the colleges you are applying to. This way, you can create a calendar of when you want to submit each application and give yourself plenty of time for one last look at your materials.
Keep An Eye on Your Email
Make sure that the email you list on the Common Application is an email that you check! If you are missing anything after you hit submit, schools will reach out to you to let you know. Try to check your email at least once a week to stay up to date on any additional documentation that you may be required to submit.
With all this in mind, you can submit, sit back and enjoy the rest of the college process and wait to see what amazing school you will end up at in the Fall!