Putting the Finishing Touches on Your Application
Applicants: Well done! You’ve written your essays, you’ve requested your transcripts and letter of recommendation, and you’ve curated your list of activities. You are just about done with the application process, but there are some final things you should think about before and even 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’s important to make sure that everything in your application is correct. This should be the case not only when it comes to the grammar of your written responses, but also with the details of your extracurriculars and even your self-reported grades. 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 commitment you’ve down put for each activity is a reasonable estimate. Now, students will not be denied for making one grammatical mistake, but this process is about clarity and attention to detail, amongst other things. 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. 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 an additional short answer, a portfolio or an audition. If you’re curious about what else your major might require, check our admission website. (You’ll even find more details on the websites of the individual academic departments.) 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 midyear (fall) grades once those become available. And, we make it easy. You can just submit them through your applicant portal!
Is Your Application You?
Most schools don’t do interviews, so the only way we admission counselors get to “meet” prospective students 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 that, 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 challenges 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 to which you are applying. 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! You might consider using a personal email—even one specifically set up for college applications—rather than a school email address. Many of the latter have spam filters that won’t allow colleges to communicate with you.
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.
Final thoughts…
With all this in mind, you can submit, sit back and try to enjoy the rest of the college process. Then, comes the waiting… which we’ll have suggestions about in a few months.
Original by Alex Castro
Edited by: Anne Aubert-Santelli, Associate Director – USC Office of Admission