College application olympics

Getting ready to leave the Carmel nest

Carmel+students+seek+out+college+advice+and+figure+out+the+steps+that+they+need+to+take+to+get+accepted+to+their+first-choice+school.

Allie Roder

Carmel students seek out college advice and figure out the steps that they need to take to get accepted to their first-choice school.

Fall has arrived. The leaves are changing, pumpkin spice is everywhere and the stress for Carmel seniors is at an all-time high. It’s college application type of anxiety or collegiate applicitous: an allergic reaction to the application process that can be very dangerous to the well-being of the Class of 2017.

This outline might help soothe the pain for those who haven’t started and ease the fears of those who are well on their way through the application process. The goal here is to help everyone feel completely comfortable when it’s time to hit “submit.”

STEPS ONE & TWO: “This is who I am and what I do.”

Log into Naviance and get started by filling out the profile and entering a resume. These two steps help introduce the site’s features and provides a complete guide that highlights all the awesome accomplishments, attributes and advantages that colleges want to see.

 STEP THREE: “I’ll want to go here and there and here and there.”

Click the “Colleges” tab and add college choices under the aptly-named “Colleges I’m Applying To” area of the site. This will organize all of the schools and show which application tool needs to be used.

There are two types of applications:

  • Common Application is a site that allows one application to go out to nearly 700 different colleges and universities.
  • Individual applications for the schools that are not a part of the Common App database have to be submitted separately. More on that later.

STEP FOUR: “You’re fantastic!”

Most colleges want to know if a student is going to be an asset to their incoming freshman class, so they want to hear from teachers and coaches to make sure that a student can cut it. This is supposed to highlight skills and accomplishments, so it takes more than a few minutes to write.

It’s best not to spring a request at the last second because it is rather impolite and teachers have a whole lot more to do in a day than to drop everything and write nice things about you.

STEP FIVE“So you wanna know all about my biggest struggle or my favorite memory?”

On the Common App, create an account and fill in all the required information, such as education, activities, and profile. It’s also important to begin writing an essay on one of the topics listed on the website.

As soon as this account is created, link the Common Application account to the Naviance account. This can be found in the “Colleges I’m Applying To” tab used earlier. Many people forget this part, but it is very important as this is how Counselors send transcripts to schools.

Important to note: Students must still submit their ACT test scores directly from the ACT Website to each individual school. This does not happen through Common App.

STEP SIX: “Please send them my deets!”

With the applications submitted, your official record of your time here at Carmel, known as the transcript, needs to be sent to each school. Fill out a transcript request form for each college application, which can be found in the CCRC. Completed requests then go to student counselors.