Student Perspectives: Keeping Track of College Applications as a Prospective First-Year Student
Hi everyone! My name is Haley Baasansukh. I’m a first-year student studying Public Policy with a minor in Psychology. I’m from Arlington, Virginia, which is right outside of Washington, D.C.! If you’re reading this in hopes of calming your worries about college applications, you’ve come to the right spot. I was in your shoes only a year ago.
When I was first introduced to the college application process, I remember being daunted by the number of deadlines I was presented with. Having dates laid out on my calendar seemed foreign and abstract to me, so I turned to creating a spreadsheet to check off my progress. I found myself applying to about 12 different schools, which I organized into three different categories: safeties, targets, and reaches! Safeties are schools that you believe you’re most likely to get accepted into; targets are ones that you have a reasonable chance to get into; and reaches are ones that highly selective. Here’s an example of what my spreadsheet looked like throughout the peak decision season:
My spreadsheet included the names of each school I applied to, the completion of the application, financial aid documentation, the midyear report, and the decision I received. The green indicated acceptances, the orange were waitlists, and the reds were rejections. I also put an asterisk next to the colleges that applied to through a program called Questbridge. This is a community-based organization that provides high-achieving low-income students with the resources to apply to top colleges.
To help me organize my thoughts, I wanted to ensure that I kept track of the schools I applied to. I relied on a spreadsheet so that I was actually able to check off and see tangible success. The schools I applied to included a good mix of safeties, targets and reaches. A super important part of my college application journey was the financial aid I would receive, so I made sure to apply to schools that had affordability initiatives and need-blind admission. Since I did not do early decision or early action, I also made sure to include any supplemental materials, such as the mid-year report, on my tracker. When creating my tracker, I felt that my spreadsheet hit all of the major requirements for my application to be considered. Looking back, however, here are some things that I wish I had added…
The days, dates and impending deadlines.
Even though I applied to all of my schools within the regular decision period, it would have been useful to put all of the schools’ deadlines. I didn’t really rely on Google Calendar or other calendar apps at the time, so I constantly looked up “[SCHOOL NAME] Regular Decision Application Deadline”. It’s easier to have the dates all laid out, just to see how much time is left to complete the application.
Concrete numbers of essays.
I generalized the bulk of my application to one part – “SUBMITTED”. A lot of schools differ in the amount of essays or supplemental materials that are required, so it would have been helpful to see how many more pieces I needed to complete before submission.
SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINES!
When I applied to my schools, I wish had known about the merit scholarships that were associated with earlier deadlines. For USC, I applied by the regular decision deadline. What I didn’t realize is that I would have been considered for merit scholarships if I had applied by the early action deadline. A lot of schools are similar, so I highly recommend putting scholarship deadlines on the spreadsheet.
When organizing college applications, being able to rely on and see tangible results in terms of checking off boxes is very helpful! Although stressful, it’s super important to organize your thoughts because it’s super easy to get lost and overwhelmed with the amount of information you have to include. I hope my tips and my approach help provide some insight. Good luck, and fight on!