Start the college applications process as early as you possibly can, because what you don’t know you don’t know can mean the difference between going to college or taking an unexpected gap year.
The college admissions process, particularly in the US, is a marathon, not a sprint. So when should you start?
The absolute latest is the year before you plan to start college but that doesn’t give you much time to do anything about the gaps in your application that most certainly exist. Unless you’re a star athlete, play the cello, fence, speak five languages, have started a business, run a charity, feed the homeless in your spare time and write for the New York Times? Thought not.
So, are you thinking about college applications yet?
Because a really good time to start thinking about college applications is the day you were born. Failing that (and most people do) three to four years before you plan to start college. Depending on the type of school you attend, this could be freshman year of high school or the first year of an IB or GCSE program. Because here’s the thing: there’s lots to think about and lots to do. And that’s before you actually open the application form.
Meanwhile you should be reading. A lot. And while The Diary of a Wimpy Kid may be great fun, it’ll do you no favours in an interview or when you’re brainstorming for an essay if you haven’t read a little more widely – fiction and non-fiction – than that.
We’ll come back to this. Again and again.
Don’t worry if you haven’t started yet and college apps are due next year or even this one. There’s lot that can still be done. You really do have to start today though. Now.
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