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Is your early college admissions process 100% complete?
Students applying for higher education using the early college admission process may think they can now sit back and leisurely enjoy the rest of their senior year of high school once they have submitted all the required paperwork.
Unfortunately, this way of thinking is wrong, wrong, wrong.
There are very specific tasks (including applying for as many college scholarships as possible!) that must get done to ensure their early admission process is 100% complete.
Today I have a guest post from College Parenting Expert, Wendy David-Gaines. Her article, “Early applications sent, now 7 things to do” specifies exactly what students need to get done after they have applied for college early admission.
Read this important article and share it with other parents and their students:
EARLY APPLICATIONS SENT, NOW 7 THINGS TO DO
For those applying to college via an early admission program, the flurry of activities including visiting colleges, writing essays, and taking college admission tests come to a close when they submit their early college admission applications in November. Or so many college-bound and their parents thought.
The reality is there are many things left to do.
If the following seven things aren’t completed, the repercussions can range from college rejection to inadequate financial aid.
Students can celebrate their accomplishments to date and get busy on what’s next on the to-do list.
- Check with the school counselor that teacher/counselor recommendation letters and high school transcripts were sent before the deadline!
- Follow-up with the college to make sure the application is complete and any new information is sent before the deadline!
- Keep grades up and continue with extracurricular activities. Colleges can rescind their offer of admission based on certain circumstances such as poor senior year grades and bad behavior, according to a NACAC survey.
- Be ready to file all applications for financial aid colleges applied to require. They all accept the federal FAFSA https://fafsa.ed.gov but some want other forms too. Also, check state financial programs, for example, NY TAP, Gather information, and be ready to file as soon as permitted because certain programs give aid to the qualifying early birds first. When estimating, be prepared to update with the correct numbers.
- Plan to visit the college during their Accepted Students Day. it’s a great time to meet current and admitted students, professors, and other college staff. Most importantly, it’s a chance to begin bonding with the campus and get comfortable before classes start. Or realize it’s not for the student after all and move on.
- Update any personal and family calendars to include any applicable dates for activities listed in 1-5. Don’t forget to include time for fun and celebrating accomplishments.
- Have a Plan B if students don’t receive an offer of admission from their top choice college. Many schools don’t have enough spots for all qualifying students. File additional admission applications according to the rules of the early admission program chosen. Find out what other admission options the school offers and go back over initial college research to check out other schools again. When admitted, if financial aid offered is inadequate, be ready to ask for more according to that school’s appeal process.
When students are accepted to a college they want to attend and are satisfied with their financial aid package, don’t forget to accept the offer of admission.
Don’t let the hard work of applying for college early admission become all for nothing!
Is Your Early College Admission Process 100% Complete? Click To Tweet
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Monica Matthews is the author of How to Win College Scholarships. She helped her own son win over $100,000 in college scholarships and now shares her expertise with other parents and their students. She truly has “been there, done that” in regard to helping parents and students navigate the scholarship process.
Her method of helping students in finding college scholarships, writing unique and compelling scholarship essays, creating amazing scholarship application packets, and more have taught desperate parents to help their own students win thousands of scholarship dollars. She teaches them how to apply S.M.A.R.T. with outstanding results.
Monica’s scholarship tips have been featured on many prominent websites, and she has been dubbed the “Go-To” expert on college scholarships.
