College Application

Call your individual school for an application or to see if they accept what is known as the common application, which you can find at www.commonapp.org.  This application is accepted by more than 200 schools, making it easier to apply to more colleges.  Schools each have their individual deadlines around January or February. Earlier for the more competitive schools, since they have so many applications to review.  Results should arrive around mid April. 

In the case of rolling admissions the school evaluates applications continually as they are received.  They let you know your admission's status as soon as they have reviewed your application usually within six weeks.  The earlier you apply the higher your chances of admissions.  Rolling admissions is used primarily at large state schools and many less selective schools.

"Early Decision" gives students a better chance of getting into their reach schools.  You will need to apply for early admission in mid-October or early November.  You are allowed to apply to only one school. If you are accepted you must attend, though if the aid package is poor there are ways out of it.  With early decision you are committing yourself to one school. If you need financial aid this is probably not a good idea for you situation, because you are locking yourself in before you even know how much you will be paying.  Colleges like early decision because they know exactly how many students will absolutely be attending in the fall.  The regular applicants in the spring have the option of turning them down.  If you are accepted into your early decision college you can sit back for the rest of the year.  If not you will probably have to scramble to get letters of recommendations and applications filled out in time before the deadlines.

Online Degrees For Undergraduates:

Filling out college applications always takes longer than you think it will, so start early.  For letters of recommendations ask teachers and counselors that are familiar with you, and always write them a thank you note for going through the trouble.  Give them a stamped envelope with the college's address of admissions label on it.  It might be a good idea to write a brief introduction about yourself, your accomplishments, and a resume, so they can refer to it when writing your recommendation letter.  They will be writing many letters, and after awhile they are all going to all sound the same. 

Application fees generally start around $50 a application.  If this presents a hardship to you or your family, you can sometimes get this fee waived with the university if you give them the appropriate information.  Call the admissions office directly to find out.  If you can you should type your application.  At the very least write clearly.  Get two applications from the college so you have a spare if you mess up.