Webinar Transcript: Timeline for 12th Grade College Admissions
Elton Lin
Anthony Su: Good evening, everyone. Really glad that all of you can make it today. We have a really exciting topic for a lot of our juniors right now – to get ready for the admissions process, and start to think about the timeline: what they should be thinking about, researching schools, essays… We'll go through everything today! College tours – I think that's also something on people's minds: thinking about that for spring break, potentially. We'll talk about all of that today.
I would like to have Kelly introduce herself to the audience – and a little bit about yourself, Kelly.
Kelly Pofahl: Sure. Hi Anthony! Thank you so much for asking me to hop on here with you. I'm so excited; this is such an exciting time for juniors – future college students, and their parents!
I am Kelly Pofahl. I have years of experience as an educational consultant. I also teach college writing, as well as a class in college success.
I joined ILUMIN last year – and I'm so glad that I did! I've been able to help many students find the perfect fit college. I'm so excited to go through the cycle again – now! It's March, and it's time to get ready!
Anthony Su: Absolutely.
If you are familiar with the webinars here, we have chat enabled, we have Q&A open… so feel free to jot down any questions you have. We'll try to get to as many questions at the end [as we can].
Senior year: key dates
Oct 1 Submit FAFSA/CSS Profile for Financial Aid
Nov 1 Early Application and Early Decision Deadlines*
Nov 30 UC and CSU Deadline
Jan 1 Regular Decision Deadlines*
The core required application materials for each school include essays, an official high school transcript for each college, letters of recommendation, financial aid forms if applicable, and test scores.
*EA, ED, and RD deadlines vary between schools. Check the websites (and your Common App portal) for this year’s official deadlines.
Kelly Pofahl: Great! Okay, this is an overview right here of the key dates that are really important, starting in October! I'm going to be talking about these in the next 45 minutes – but here are just some key dates to be aware of.
October 1st is when the FAFSA opens – which everybody should fill out. I'll be going over that later. But even if you don't think you will qualify for financial aid, you definitely still want to fill out that FAFSA. I'll go over why later.
November 1st! It's important to consider applying early – doing early applications: early action and early decisions. November 1st is the deadline for most colleges.
And then November 30th! Probably most of you on here are in California and applying to the UC and the Cal State schools. So November 30th is a big deadline that you need to be aware of.
January 1st is around when the regular decision deadlines happen. Some of them are before, some of them are after – but you want to just know that around January 1st, you want to aim to get most of your regular decision applications in.
And when I'm talking about applications (there's a list on this slide), I'm talking about the basic information – your name and email and address and everything – but also your essays, your high school transcripts, all of your letters of recommendation, any test scores that might be needed, and any type of financial information that the college wants. Those are the things you want to be thinking about gathering for those dates.
Application materials
Application forms
Supplemental essays
Art/music/maker supplements
Letters of recommendation
Interviews
Test scores (SAT, ACT, AP, IB, TOEFL)
Official high school, online, and community college transcripts (one set for each college)
Kelly Pofahl: So these are the application materials – again, in more detail.
Of course the application form.
You'll be working on different essays for each college. There's going to be one main essay in the Common App – and then you'll have smaller essays that each college will want from you.
It depends on your major: sometimes you need to have a portfolio (whether it's for acting or music or art). Those have different guidelines as well (which we definitely can help you with).
You want to be thinking about your letters of recommendation that you're going to be turning in.
There's going to be an interview process for some of the colleges you may be applying to.
You want to be thinking about your test scores: are you going to submit? Are you not going to submit? Is the college test-optional, or are they requiring test scores?
And then, of course, you want to know how to access your transcripts. (And when I say “transcripts,” I don't just mean the high school transcript! A lot of students might be taking an online class through the district, or they might be taking an online class at a community college, or they might be in a dual enrollment program. You have to send the colleges all of the transcripts!)
So these are the application materials that you want to be thinking about gathering now – for when you apply.
Junior year: March
Settle on a major pathway (“undecided” is okay!)
Research and create college “long list”
30 colleges ranging from “reach” to “safe”
Apply to summer programs/plan your summer
Consider what is missing from your profile
Focus on grades and finalize testing plan
Kelly Pofahl: So we are in March right now – this is such an exciting time! This is where students decide either if they're going to choose a pathway or not. And it's definitely okay to not have a major! But if a student knows what their academic interests are, I really like to put down an area of interest – because sometimes students are taking coursework in that area already, or they've done some extracurricular activities in that area. I like when a résumé (and an application) has focus. So if a student has done the work, I do like to put down a major.
And in the beginning (like right now, in March) you probably don't know exactly where you want to go. At ILUMIN my job is to work with the student (and the family) and come up with a huge list. I literally come up with like 30 schools for the student! It might have a bunch of UC schools on there. It's going to have some schools that are super “reach.” It's going to have some “target” schools – that will probably be comprised of public and private schools. And then it's going to have some “safety” schools that I know for sure that the student can get in.
And then (right now in March) it's also really important to think about summer: “What can I do to make my college application stand out and be competitive? What's missing from my profile?” Maybe you don't have coursework in your academic interest – and you could take a community college class, or there's a website called Coursera; I've definitely recommended that.
You want to think about, “What is missing?” And [at ILUMIN] we help you figure that out, too. Maybe you have no leadership. Maybe you've never had a board position in a club – or you've never had any type of leadership position. We can definitely help suggest those types of things.
And then this is the most important semester! This is the end of your junior year. The UC schools and the California state schools [only] look at your sophomore year and your junior year [grades] when they're calculating your GPA – and so you want to finish this year strong! Right now you should be focusing on your schoolwork, and figuring out, “How can I finish this semester strong?”
So you're finishing the year strong – and you're also finalizing your testing plan. For the schools that want test scores, you want to figure out when you're going to take the tests, right? I advise students to not take standardized tests (such the SAT, ACT) in May – because a lot of students have AP exams during May. I like to advise students to take the SAT or ACT in April or June – or even August, and sometimes even in the fall of their senior year!
Anthony Su: Yeah. [March is] a great time – I was just going to say – to make sure you have these last adjustments. Typically if you wait two months you can't change these things anymore. It's much harder.
Kelly Pofahl: True. Very true.
Anthony Su: Let's look at April.
Junior year: April
Continue refining your college list
Finalize your summer plans
Scope out potential teachers and mentors for letters of rec
Find out any extra requirements
Prepare for AP exams and finals
Finish junior year strong! It’s the first thing colleges will see.
Kelly Pofahl: So next month, I like to refine the list a little. I like to ask the student, “Let's figure out if this college has your academic interest area,” or, “Do you want to go to a big school?” or, “Do you want to go to a smaller school?” or, “Do you want to stay close to home?” or [if you live in California], “Do you want to go to the East Coast?” There are a lot of factors that go into refining the list!
One thing that stays the same is I always make sure the list is balanced. I make sure that there are a couple dream “reach” schools the student might be thinking of, some “target” schools, and some “safety” schools. And so even though we're chipping away at the list, we do make sure it's always balanced!
April is when you really want to finalize those summer plans. Maybe you applied for an internship in March, or maybe you applied to a pre-college program in your interest area. You want to figure [it] out: make sure that you have something to do in the summer that you can engage in – that's going to make your application more competitive!
In April, you should have a really strong idea of who might be writing your letters of recommendation. I advise students to ask in the spring of their junior year. Because what happens is in August (when you fill out the application) you put their email down – and when you put their email down, they are generated an email from the Common App that says, “Hey teacher, this student has requested a letter of recommendation.” And we don't want to blindside the teachers! We want to be communicating with the teachers [in the] spring of junior year: “Hey, I enjoyed your class. I really particularly liked the certain projects we did. I'm so inspired by you! Would you consider writing me a letter of recommendation? I'm applying to college in the fall.”
Usually the teacher will be happy to do it. However, sometimes teachers get a lot of requests – especially the popular teachers, [and] especially teachers who are teaching STEM classes to juniors. So be one of the first people to ask your teachers for that letter of recommendation – and form a relationship with that teacher. Keep in touch with them!
Another thing is you want to be aware of what the teacher’s requirements are to write the letter of recommendation. Sometimes they want something called a “brag sheet” from you. They want some general information about you that they may not know. (Sometimes the school counselor wants that as well.) So you want to make sure to find out, “What do I need to do to make this process easy?”
And then April is also the time where you want to get a head start preparing for your AP exams that are going to happen in May! I'm sure that your teachers are helping you prepare [for] that. I know that there's an AP Central website where you can look at prior tests and exam questions.
But this is the month! This is the month that you want to buckle down, study for those tests, and really make a commitment to yourself to do the best you can – because this is what the colleges are going to see. This is the last semester that the colleges are going to see – because you're applying in August. I just wanted to be clear about that, in case some of you didn't know that!
Junior year: May
Begin researching your college list
Consider your social media and your email address
Professionalism is important
Change this before you initiate contact with colleges to demonstrate interest
Plan summer college visits around other summer commitments
Kelly Pofahl: Now we move on to May.
Now we've chipped away at our list a little bit, right? So we have a smaller list. We have a manageable list. It's not finished, but it's small enough to where we can start researching the schools.
I like to go to Niche, and on Niche what I like to do is look at the student reviews. I might look up “University of Michigan” – and then I'll see all of the requirements and everything. And then I'll go down and I'll read the student reviews. That's just one tool out of so many tools!
Another thing I really like to do to research a college is go to the actual college website and click on the department that I'm interested in (maybe it's humanities) and start looking at the different majors in that area: look at the different courses I might be able to take. And then, finally, I like to do virtual tours. I can't go to Michigan right now, so I'm gonna go and do the virtual tour!
There are ways that you can start researching colleges (when you have your list down to 20 colleges, 15 colleges). And you can spend time every day (or every week) researching them.
Another thing (that I really like to advise students to do) is to start showing interest to these colleges. Sign up for their emails. Follow them on social media. But one thing that's very important is to do an overhaul of your social media and your email address – you don't want johnnylikestoparty@gmail.com! You want your name at gmail.com, or something professional.
And then you want to do an overhaul of your Instagram, of your snap, of Facebook – whatever it is that you use. You don't want these college admissions counselors looking you up and seeing you at the party last weekend! So it's time to do an overhaul (or to put your account on private) before you start following all of these schools – because they actually look. They actually look you up!
And you're going to be out of school in June – [so] May is a really good time to start thinking about what you're doing this summer And (if you have any time) to [plan to] visit colleges this summer. Some people do go on these big college tours – and they go all over the place! But other people can't: they have part-time jobs, or they're doing a summer program. So what I recommend for everybody is go visit a state college that's close to you: a public football Greek-system college. Whatever the closest one is to you. Usually there's one an hour or two away, so do that one. And then also find a private college – find a private college that's within an hour or two away, and visit a private, smaller college. So at least you have a sense of what the differences are when you're looking at colleges that might be farther away (that you can't visit). You'll have a frame of reference – and what to compare it to. And you can go, “That's like the state college that I saw!” or, “That's like that small college that I saw!”
Summer is the time to physically go to colleges. Sometimes I meet students who live within 20 minutes of several colleges – and they've never stepped on the campus! If that is you, figure out what colleges are within 20-30 minutes of you – and go to the campus. Even if you don't want to go to school there! It's going to give you a really good frame of reference for what other colleges might be like – and it might give you ideas of what you like and what you don't like.
So this is your time! This summer you need to go on campus and check out the colleges! It's actually my favorite thing to do – I drag my teenagers with me, and they enjoy it as well. It's important.
Anthony Su: One last [thing]: in regards to looking at local Bay Area schools, we typically recommend Berkeley and San Jose State as the large public universities to take a look at, and Santa Clara University as a middle-sized private school. Again, just to get a rough idea of the campus environment of schools before you start to look about the specifics of everything.
Kelly Pofahl: I always say Santa Clara for the small private, Berkeley for the big Pac-12, football, Greek system, and San Jose State. Those are the three perfect colleges. You can compare those to so many schools in the U.S.
Anthony Su: Right.
June
Research and refine college list
Try to get down to 15-20 colleges
Complete pre-writing
Brainstorm ideas and stories for essays
Complete brag sheet for teacher recommendations
Follow instructions from teachers as applicable
Draft Activities List for Common App, UC App
Kelly Pofahl: June. You're out of school. You're excited. You finished your junior year!
It is time to get that list down! It is time to get that list down to around 15. Because two months later you're going to start filling out those applications!
In June, I really like to start brainstorming ideas for the essays. At ILUMIN we have an “essay boot camp” – which is so much fun! We mostly just focus on brainstorming. We have graphic organizers, we have outlines, we have worksheets – to get those ideas onto the blank page. I love that about ILUMIN – because sometimes it's just hard to get started, and figure out what you're going to write about!
We also have “brag sheets” – so we can get started on filling out the information for the teachers to do the letters of recommendation. Usually the teachers have a brag sheet [template] – but it usually mirrors our brag sheet. It's going to be questions like, “What's your favorite hobby?” “What classes did you like the most, and what projects did you like in those classes?” And, “What are three adjectives that describe you?” We help you get all the information down in June – so you're not scrambling in September when school starts! We get a lot done in the summer, and at the end of junior year.
We also start early on just getting down your activities on a worksheet – because when I ask students, “What have you done 9th through 11th grade?” they don't remember! Sometimes the parents tell me, “You did that beach cleanup,” or, “You took that volunteer work at the Humane Society.” The parents always remember these great things that the students did – and the students don't remember! So we start early. We start in June. And we start writing down what part-time jobs you've had, what sports have you played, how have you been a leader, where have you volunteered… All sorts of information we start remembering.
And we get them down on an “activities” worksheet – which, later, we are able to transfer into the applications. We have a very specific way of describing the activities as well, to stand out – because a very important tool of the application is the activities list! We have lots of people with high GPAs and great essays, but the activities list is a really important tool! So we do spend quite a bit of time on it.
Moving on to July…
July
Continue researching college list
It’s a long process :)
Write and revise first drafts: Common App Personal Statement, 4 UC PIQs
Finalize brag sheet for teachers and activities list
Don’t forget to dig up old awards and scores
Kelly Pofahl: Again, still working on that list! The list is my favorite part – one of my favorite parts. But we don't just make the list in May and keep it! It's evolving. It keeps changing. It's a work in progress. Because – as you get to learn more about the programs, and more about yourself – your list is going to change.
Someone might start out saying, “I want to do pre-med,” or, “I want to do computer science.” But the more they start exploring the coursework they've done (and what they actually want to do) some students change from computer science to applied math, or they'll change from computer science to electrical engineering – or someone who is sure they want to do biology might do biomed! And we find programs at certain colleges that really are a fit for the student. The list changes. It is a long process.
And in July, we usually have our ideas together about what's going to be the big “personal statement.” And then what the smaller supplemental essays are going to be about. And we start drafting the big essay for the Common App – which is your “personal statement.” That's usually a narrative: a story about you. It usually has a beginning, middle, and end. It might have dialogue and description and details – and be really creative. Totally different [from] UC “personal insight questions”!
We have decades of experience doing this – so we know what makes a good personal statement! And then the kinds of personal insight questions [PIQs, for the UCs] that really stand out.
I'll answer, Jenny, your question: that's a really good question about how far back do you go. Jenny asked, “How far back do you go for the activities?” I actually have an 8th grader right now! You are supposed to put your 9th through 12th, right? When you're filling out the application, anything that you did in 9th grade through what you are doing at the moment – or will be doing in 12th grade: in progress.
I tell my students that once they graduate from 8th grade, if they're doing a trip (like I have students who are going to Japan this summer, and they're going to immerse themselves in the culture and the language and everything), I'll put the correct dates – June of 2023 – but I count that. Because you're already graduated from 8th grade, and you're into 9th grade! It's anything that's in 9th through 12th.
If a student has done theater since kindergarten – but they've also been in theater club 9th, 10th, [and] 11th grade and done 20 musicals – I'll focus on the part they did in high school. We'll say, “I was in three musicals and two plays, and won the Shakespeare Festival.” And then I might (at the bottom) have them say something about “over a decade of study in acting” or something like that.
So we do want to focus on the 9th through 12th.
August
Finalize college list!
Research/compile deadlines and app requirements
Continue revising essays
Get to a stopping point on the major essays before school starts
Compile/Draft supplemental essays for EA/ED colleges
Create and fill out application portals for UC, Common App, etc.
Formally request LOR following school procedures
Kelly Pofahl: Moving to August – this is the exciting month! Last month of summer. We've got our list. I have a deadline of August 31st for the list. We're done: we've got the list!
We have spreadsheets now (at this point) of when we're turning in the early action applications, when we're turning in the early decision, and (of course) the UC applications.
We're revising the essay still – meaning we've got the content, but we're figuring out the order, and what's most effective. Sometimes we will move the ending. I'll make a suggestion: “I think the ending should be the beginning, and the middle should go at the end.” We're making those revisions to really be able to stand out and be competitive!
And then we're writing those supplemental essays. I'll tell you what the supplemental essays usually are. There's usually one on, “Talk about a time you've impacted the community,” or, “Talk about a time where you showed leadership.” Those are very common. Another one is, “What is your academic interest, and how did this develop?” And then sometimes there's one about, “What's your talent?” or “What are you good at? And then another one is like, “When have you overcome a challenge?” These are essays that pop up all the time. (The community essay is almost at every school, and that's, “How will you contribute to the diversity of our student body?”)
We write and rewrite these essays over and over and over. For each college we have different information in those. We do a lot of research on the schools and the programs – and so we can write a really informed essay for those.
August is also a very important time [to] open up the portals. So we go to the Common App; we open it up: we've got a login and a password. We do the same thing for the UC application. And any other – like Texas has their own application. We want to be really careful to keep track of our login and our password – because five months from now, when the students get their [admissions decisions] and you don't have your password written down, it's very stressful! It'll say, “Virginia updated your admissions portal,” and then you're like, “I can't get in! I don't know my password!”
I saw a question, and the portal opens for the Common App on August 1st. And I don't know the exact date (maybe you do, Anthony) for the UC schools. It opened earlier last cycle. I'm not sure on the exact date for the UC; I do know that you can start submitting your applications on November 1st, but they do open before then. It might be posted on their website right now. I do know that last year they changed their opening date. You can start sending it off on November 1st – between November 1st and November 30th – for the UC schools.
August is, again, the time to make sure that the teachers know that you are going to be putting their email down for the letter of recommendation. And just finalize that you understand exactly what needs to get done for that.
Oh, good – I just saw that Anthony put a link in the chat that August 1st is also the time that you can open the portal for the UC – even though you can't submit it until November 1st!
Anthony Su: Adding one more thing: submitting it earlier does not mean you get reviewed faster.
Kelly Pofahl: Exactly!
Anthony Su: Don't worry about getting it in super early. If you have early decision [or] early action, by definition the deadline is earlier – but even those, if you get that in August 2nd, it doesn't increase your chances at anything. So take the time to make sure your essays are good before turning them in.
Kelly Pofahl: Yeah. Each school's different. I know for the UCs it doesn't matter (like Anthony said) if you turn it into November 1st or November 30th. They wait until all applications are in, and then they go through them.
So a really good point. I'm glad that you brought that up.
September
Finalize UC PIQs (BIG MILESTONE)
Continue revising supplemental essays for EA/ED
Request official transcripts (check each college’s requirements)
High school, community college, online high school
Attend college fairs and college visits to your school - demonstrated interest
Schedule interviews!
Kelly Pofahl: So September!
September is when you want to finalize the [UC] Personal Insight Questions. And again, these are not essays. This is big news to a lot of people. People think, “I have to write four essays for the UC apps.” No, they're not; they're answers to questions. The UC admissions officers have a very short time to go through these applications. So there's a very particular way to rate answers to these questions (versus what you're going to do on your supplemental essays in the Common App). It's very different. (We at ILUMIN know what we're doing – and we know how to lead the student, and the correct direction for these. We have a really good track record!)
This is the time to really perfect those supplemental essays for early action and early decision – because these are due in November. I personally have been doing this [for] a pretty long time. (I'm not talking about UC right now; I'm talking about everywhere else.) I really want the students to get the majority of their applications in by November. The reason for that is because a lot of [programs] have certain deadlines – like the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE). For example, [in] Utah you had to do early action this year – you had to get your application in by November 12th to be considered for WUE. Or USC – you had to get your application in by December 1st to be considered for a certain merit scholarship. I don't like to take any chances – so I like to get everything in very early.
If you're here on the webinar right now, this is your sign: make a pact with yourself to start early and get things in early!
September is also when you want to request those transcripts we talked about before. You want to make sure that your counselor is ready to upload your transcripts. You want to make sure that you know how to order transcripts from a community college if needed, or from some type of online school that you've done. This is the time. [It] has to get done for those early decision and early action deadlines.
September is also fun because colleges start coming to the schools – and promoting their programs. You might already know that you want to apply to UCLA and you want to apply to Santa Clara – and if those schools are coming to your high school or a college fair nearby (or even an online college fair), go to them, get their [college recruiters’] names, follow up with a thank you note, or follow up with something. I even had my own daughter name-drop the person she met in her essay – for the “Why college?” essay. [The “Why college?”/”Why this particular college?” essay is a common supplemental.]
It's really important to show interest where you can, and form relationships with these admissions officers that are going out into the field. Get to know them – and they'll get to know the student's personality. It definitely helps for the schools that consider demonstrated interest. Not every school does – but for those schools, definitely make that effort to get to know these admissions officers!
September is also the time where some schools might contact you if you apply early action or early decision. You might get an email saying, “Stanford wants you to do an interview,” or, “Harvard wants you to do an interview.” It happens all the time. It doesn't necessarily mean you're in the top whatever pool. It could. But sometimes they [just] want to get to know you. They want more information. Sometimes it's someone who's an alum, or it might be a faculty member. Or it might be a graduate student! There are all sorts of scenarios where your student might be asked to do an interview.
The great news is ILUMIN has this incredible trainer on interview training – and she's really helped my students prepare for these interviews! Even [to] my most articulate students she gives really good advice [on] how to say certain things, or questions to ask. So I think it's super valuable.
October
Finalize essays: Common App, supplemental essays for EA/ED
Request official test scores for colleges (if required)
Follow policies and deadlines!
Check to ensure that LORs have been submitted
Complete/Submit FAFSA/CSS Profile for financial aid (if applicable)
Submit applications by November 1
Kelly Pofahl: So October. October is Halloween month – but also time to get down to business! We are in the final stretch for those UC essays coming up, as well as [meeting] those early action and early decision deadlines.
This is like check, check, check: did my letters of recommendation get uploaded? Are my transcripts uploaded? Are my essays ready? Did I submit all the financial aid? This is like go time: it's time to check everything [and] make sure you're ready to go. Because when that November 1st deadline comes, you're ready!
Let's see what November brings us.
November
Take a (quick!) break
Research/draft supplemental essays for RD (regular decision) colleges
Check portals for any instructions from EA/ED colleges
Complete/Submit UC/CSU applications by November 30
Kelly Pofahl: This is when the holidays start coming (at the end of November) – and students want to have a break! It's okay for them to take a break. I do have some suggestions, usually – if they have more essays to work on, or I give them “homework” that is manageable. You really want to make sure that your essays are ready to go!
After you submit your early decision and early action applications you want to check the portals. What happens is after you submit your early decision or early action application, you'll get an email – and the email will give you a whole new link. They will say, “Thank you for your submission to Stanford (or wherever); here is your new student ID number.” And the link to the portal.
The student will actually get an email where they're usually given a username and then a temporary password. They have to set up a whole new portal with the school; it's an admissions portal! It's tricky for parents – because sometimes the parents don't have access, and the students have access. And so it's really important for students to be checking their portals for all of their early action and early decision schools. Because you don't want to miss something important that's going to come through!
Anthony Su: With the portals, all of your admissions decisions will come through that portal.
Kelly Pofahl: Yes!
Anthony Su: Like if they say, “We need some more information about this,” or, “We want another document you mentioned.” That's something that you also want to pay attention to – because you don't want to just ignore the admissions office, and then hope for the best.
Kelly Pofahl: And you can't even guess what they are going to ask you for. It is different for every school. Some schools want you to just click some boxes, or it might be something about COVID-19. Or it might be something about housing. You can't even really guess what they're gonna throw at you!
I remember for my daughter (who goes to school on the East Coast), I needed to sign something about housing: some confidentiality agreement or something. And it slowed up our process! So you have to [check often]. My best advice is to have an email that the parent and the student both have access to – because sometimes the student's not checking, or just the parent has access, or just the student has access. I think it's really good if parents and students (at this point) both have access.
December
Finalize supplemental essays for RD colleges
Prepare for any scheduled interviews with RD colleges
Check to ensure LORs and transcripts have been submitted for RD
Follow-up on financial aid, ensuring documentation has been submitted
Receive EA/ED results!
December 15 to February 15
Complete/Submit RD applications by January 1
Kelly Pofahl: Okay, December. I really, really get excited about December – because this is the first time the acceptances come in! For example, if you apply to NYU early decision, you will hear December 15th. If you apply somewhere early action, you might hear December 14th. My daughter applied [using] both of those (early decision for one school, early action for the other) and heard on both of those dates.
When you send your applications in November 1st for early action and early decision, you are going to start hearing – and it's really exciting! And it relieves a lot of worry and uncertainty. If you are applying to a lot of schools, at least (most likely) you'll have some acceptances early – because we have a balanced list, and we will probably be applying to some of those “safety” schools and “target: schools on your list early action. It's really nice to get those acceptances early!
December is also the time where we finalize the essays for the regular decision colleges. [You might apply regular decision] for a particular reason. Maybe you decided that you wanted to apply after your fall grades came in. There are lots of different reasons you might decide to apply later. It's different with each student.
December is the time to finish those essays. You can see on this checklist some of the same things we've talked about before. Just make sure everything is squared away: letters of recommendation, interviews, financial aid… Everything needs to be squared away for these regular decision applications.
And January 1st is a really important date! [At] some schools it's January 15th, [and at] some schools it's January 1st. [At] some schools it's February 1st. But the majority of the regular decision applications that I've done with students are around January 1st.
January & February
Check application portals for any instructions from RD colleges
Check with school counselor to ensure mid-year report has been sent to Common App colleges
If deferred from EA/ED, write Letters of Continued Interest to update colleges on your first semester accomplishments
Work on scholarship applications and essays (if applicable)
Kelly Pofahl: So then January comes along (of your senior year): this is where you have to be really detail-oriented. Be checking your portals. You have to be logging in (weekly!) and checking to see if they're asking you for anything.
After your first semester of senior year, your counselor (for certain schools) [may have to send a mid-year report]. When you log into the Common App and you go under “college info” (there's a tab that says “college info”) it will say if your mid-year report needs to be sent. [To] some schools it does. [To] other schools it doesn't. But your counselor should be uploading the mid-year report – so that's something that you need to be aware of. And actually it's something that you can check in the Common App; you can check to see what date it was uploaded. (And the consultants at ILUMIN are on it; we can see everything! Most of the time we can see when the letters of recommendations have been uploaded. We can see if everything is on track.)
In some cases students might get deferred or waitlisted – and we work with students from making the [initial college] list all the way to getting accepted or getting waitlisted or getting deferred. We help students write that “letter of continued interest” if they do get deferred or waitlisted. And we also will help [with] writing essays to get into the honors program, or maybe working on any scholarship applications or essays if needed! That's super helpful, I think, in the process.
March & April
Receive admissions results!
Visit colleges or attend info sessions and meet-and-greets
Review financial aid awards
Complete requirements for waitlist status (if applicable)
Kelly Pofahl: And then March! A year from now, your student will know where they are going to college. A year from now! (Probably much sooner.)
So what do you do then? You want to do the best you can to visit the colleges [your students are attending], attend the info sessions, meet other students, meet faculty – and really get a sense of the school.
Of course, financial aid awards are usually really important too – especially [for] parents. You're going to be comparing offers.
And if you were waitlisted, you'll want to figure out what the situation is there: if you're going to come off the waitlist or not.
May 1st: Decision Day
Make your decision!
Send a deposit to hold your spot at the college of your choice
Follow the registration checklist on your student portal
Kelly Pofahl: But the next slide – May 1st – is the big day to me! I joke with my colleagues: this is my Super Bowl. May 1st is my favorite day – because I get to find out where every single one of my students has chosen to go to college. And it's so exciting!
Usually on May 1st the students put on their college sweatshirts and they post on social media – or they email me. It's so exciting and fun. It just makes my whole life!
This is also the day that you will want to put a deposit down to save your spot. May 1st is a big day in this process!
Again you'll want to check (triple-check) your checklist – to see that everything is A-okay with the college about your students.
June & July
Receive updates from any waitlisted colleges
Submit materials (transcripts, score reports) to your college of choice
Credit may be awarded
Attend orientation on campus
Prepare for your college journey!
Kelly Pofahl: In June and July it is common to think you know where you're going, but then come off a waitlist for your dream school. That happens! Sometimes there might be a last-minute decision. If that happens, you have to scramble to get all of your materials to the school quickly and figure that out.
But the fun part about June and July is you get to go to your campus and do the orientation. It's so fun for students – but it's really fun for parents, too, because you get to see your student go to these orientation meetings, meet other students, meet faculty… and it's just such an incredible experience to see your child spread their wings!
Questions?
Schedule a free consultation with ILUMIN Education!
Contact us at info@ilumineducation.com
Kelly Pofahl: I would love to answer any questions that anyone might have.
I do want to say that I'm always happy to meet with parents – for free. You can always schedule a consultation with me – and I can sit with you and answer any questions you might have!
I have time to take some questions now, Anthony, if anyone has any questions.
Anthony Su: Absolutely. Alex just had a question about the supplemental essays – and what the questions are. For most schools (for UCs especially, for Common App especially) we will already know what the supplements are now. So you can go look them up.
Depending on the school, the portal (when they get released) will be the [way] you for sure know what the supplements are.
There's a question about which teachers are good for recommendations. That's a good question. Kelly, how would you help a student with this?
Kelly Pofahl: I touched on it a tiny bit, I think… but I look at a couple things. I definitely encourage students to use a teacher from junior year. And then I ask them if they think they're going to go towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math), or if they're going to do something more in the humanities (English, literature). Usually students will say, “I think I'm going to do French or history,” or they'll say, “I want to do technology.”
Whatever their academic interest is, I usually suggest, “If you're going to do engineering or computer science, let's get a math teacher and your engineering teacher or biomed teacher,” or something like that. If a student wants to study English, I might have their AP lang teacher and their AP lit teacher. That's usually what I do.
I for sure like to have recent teachers. And teachers where they did well, too! Those are my things: did they get a good grade? Did the teacher really like them? And is it on their academic pathway?
Anthony Su: Yeah. I'd say again, the key is just, does the teacher know the student well? Is the student participating in the class? Are they going to the tutorial sections – the extra sections?
Juniors right now, you should be doing that to be preparing for knowing which teacher you want to ask for recommendation letters!
How many recs [letters of recommendation] are required? Typically two. And then some schools might have small adjustments. But, Kelly, do you want to elaborate on that?
Kelly Pofahl: Sure. It's really interesting. Some schools want none. For example, the UC schools don't want letters of recommendation. I think it has to do with equity – some students don't have teachers they can ask, or some schools are so overly crowded with students that the teachers would have to write 300 letters of recommendation in California! So some schools don't take them. The UCs don't take them.
But [for] the schools that do take them, you usually need one or two. Almost in all cases with the students I work with they need two – because they are doing the UC schools, usually, and then they're doing five to eight more schools. That's a range of different types of schools. And usually there's one school in there that needs two.
Now just in case you don't know this: when you get your letters of recommendation, that teacher doesn't have to write it eight or fifteen times. The teacher uploads the letter recommendation to the Common App – and then the student selects which letter they want to send to which school. So the teacher only has to upload the letter one time. I think there's miscommunication about that sometimes – parents don't understand that.
Someone also asked about when to take the SAT. At ILUMIN we're really good at figuring out per student what the best plan is! I had said earlier May is not a good month if the student has AP tests in May. Assuming that most of you here have juniors – and it's already March – there is a testing session next weekend: this coming weekend! I don't know if it's too late to do that – but sometimes I like students to take it with minor preparation the first time to see how they do. And then we work with them on a testing plan – where they self-study (or sometimes get professional help with study) and then they take it again.
There's something called superscoring – where you can pick your best score from [the] reading section and best score from [the] math section from different times that you took the test. Some of our students take it twice. Some of our students take it three times. And some even more! That's the situation.
Great question about the SAT: what if the student does not take it? Well, the UC schools are test-blind – so if you're applying to the UC schools (or the California state schools) they don't look at any type of testing! But we also usually have students applying to other types of schools – where, if a student falls within the testing range, we like the students to take the test and see.
But most schools are test-optional at this point.
Anthony Su: So it's up to you if you want to turn it in or not.
Kelly Pofahl: Yeah.
Anthony Su: A question about, “Is it better to start brainstorming or write a first draft in the spring of 11th grade compared to starting in the summer going into 12th?”
Not really. There's no rush to start it right now – I'll put it that way.
For us, we do that essay boot camp together to get all the students started together. But even if you're not working with us, a lot of the strategy around essays is also prioritizing: understanding which topic is going to which prompt, or which topic is strongest of the seven Common App prompts that are available.
You want to wait until, typically, this summer (at least) to consider: “Are there any summer programs I want to write about? What other experiences can I talk about in 11th grade that I have not considered yet?” Or that are going to be coming to completion in May, June, July. Compared to starting in April, or something like that.
You want to have that chance to really reflect.
Kelly Pofahl: Absolutely.
Anthony Su: Any other questions? We'll probably do another four or five minutes.
Kelly Pofahl: Yeah, it's such an exciting time. And I really enjoy working with the juniors. I think it's so much fun! Sometimes they're nervous – and they can't imagine themselves in college. It's so fun to work through the process. From when I start with them in March to the next year they grow and mature so much – and they take ownership of the process. And they're learning! It's so rewarding for them to look back and see how far they've come as well!
Anthony Su: Absolutely.
Any other questions? I guess this will be a last call. Oh! One last, last-minute question!
Kelly Pofahl: I would love to answer this question! I'll answer both of these questions.
“What is the difference between ‘early action’ and ‘early decision’?” Great question. And I can't believe I didn't cover this! I'm so sorry.
“Early action” means that you get your application in early and you find out the result early – but there's no binding agreement.
With “early decision” there's an advantage (at some schools maybe the acceptance rate is 14%, but [if] you're doing early decision it goes up to 30%!) [But] with “early decision” you have to attend the school if you get in. You are committing to the school when you sign the early decision contract. The student has to sign it, the parent has to sign it, and the school counselor has to sign it. You're saying, “If I get in the school, I will attend.” So it's really important that you fill out the net price calculator on the school – and you know 100% you are ready to go if you do get in.
And then there was another question about the importance of the activities list. I believe that the activities list is very important – because we have a lot of high-achieving students. We have a lot of students you know who have the same GPA, and the same test scores! So how do we differentiate these students? How do you stand out?
And at most schools they're not even taking test scores! So you just have the essays and the activity list and the GPA. It's a very important tool to show: what have you spent your time doing? Have you been a leader? Have you impacted the community? What are your interests? So I believe that it's very important.
Anthony Su: I'll quickly answer Julie's question [on] early decision: “Does that cut [you out of being considered for] merit scholarships?”
We asked the Case Western admission reader this question: “Are students for early decision considered for merit aid?” He answered, “Yes.” [His answer was “We offer merit money in the ED1 and ED2 rounds as well.”]
This is for Case Western. It's not going to be true for every university. But I would say (across the board) if you are applying early decision, you are basically indicating, “I am open to taking whatever aid that I will get.” You're indicating that.
There are ways out of early decision (that binding agreement) if the family cannot afford the education. But (to an extent) you are signaling, “I'm willing to pay full price for the particular school.” It's not to say that you'll always be cut out of merit aid – but it depends on the school for that exact policy.
Kelly Pofahl: And it does raise your chances. For example, Colgate has public information out there that their regular decision [acceptance rate] is 14% – versus 40% [for] early decision. That's extreme. [For] the Ivies too – there's a little bit of a bump if you apply [early].
But it's not every single school. I've seen some schools in California that are pretty equal – like Loyola, for example.
We do have that information at ILUMIN, too – so we help students decide if they should or not apply [early decision]. I didn't have any of my students apply early action to Stanford this year – for particular reasons. We are the experts in this area – so we help the students make these decisions.
Anthony Su: Yeah, it's totally fine to not apply early decision. It's completely optional, if you don't want to do it.
Early action – if you can – you probably should do it – just because you get to know earlier, and your essay is done earlier.
Kelly Pofahl: And you can relax!
Well thank you, Anthony, for having me on. It was so fun!
Anthony Su: Absolutely.
I was gonna let everyone know, we're gonna take a little bit of a break from webinars: I think we're gonna skip next week. And then we'll be out with more webinars the week after! Keep checking our emails – we'll definitely announce the next ones coming up, topics, [and] things like that.
Hope to see everyone around in a few weeks.
Thanks, Kelly, for joining us today.
Kelly Pofahl: Thank you! It was so fun! Good luck to everybody!
Anthony Su: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, everyone.
Kelly Pofahl: Okay, talk to you later. Bye!
Anthony Su: Bye.