52 Weeks to College

52 Weeks to College: Week 42

52 Weeks to College: Week 42

Deadlines for many early applications are just around the corner. Everything is accelerating and intensifying, and you may be feeling completely STRESSED out. Take a breath – if you’ve been following the 52 Weeks plan, then you’re more than ready to finalize early applications!

52 Weeks to College: Week 40

52 Weeks to College:  Week 40

Beyond the standard essay questions found on your college applications, you’ll run across two other types of essay questions on the application that you probably aren’t sure how to approach.

52 Weeks to College: Week 37

52 Weeks to College:  Week 37

Now that your senior year is underway, it's time to line up your recommenders – they are key allies and advocates in this process. Recommendations make a difference, and it is up to you to make sure that the recommendations you get will make a positive difference for you and influence the admissions officer in your favor.

52 Weeks to College: Week 36

52 Weeks to College:  Week 36

A substantial percentage – upwards of 60% of selective colleges that use holistic admissions – have either a “Why College X” or “Why Major X” question on their applications. Some have both. Most of these types of questions require a short answer (50-250 words), while others require an essay (250-500 words). These questions offer you a great opportunity to persuade an admissions officer that this college and its programs are exactly the right match for you.

52 Weeks to College: Week 35

52 Weeks to College: Week 35

Hello end of summer! Everything is accelerating and intensifying as you go back to school, and if you’ve been following our week-by-week plan, you are well underway with your college applications. You are ready to finalize your first essays, revise your second set, and get started on your third! That puts you in good shape and will keep you from being too stressed out as you start your senior year.

52 Weeks to College: Week 31

52 Weeks to College: Week 31

Now that you have your strategy, have done all your pre-work, and prepared your Writing Map, it’s time to choose topics for your writing. The best way to ensure that you produce compelling essays is to choose the right topics for those essays, and that’s what you’re going to do this week using our tips and tricks.

52 Weeks to College: Week 29

52 Weeks to College: Week 29

Colleges typically require academic recommendations, which are recommendations from your teachers in high school, and some don't let you submit any others. But other colleges also give you the opportunity to submit "other" (non-academic) recommendations from people who aren't your teachers.

52 Weeks to College: Week 27

52 Weeks to College: Week 27

Don’t get started on the personal essay just yet! (There are good reasons for that, really.) This week is the perfect time to get started on the “easy” parts of the college application instead.

52 Weeks to College: Week 26

52 Weeks to College: Week 26

This week, you’re going to take your strategy one step further and tailor it to each of the colleges on your list based on what each particular college emphasizes as most important in their decision-making process. You’ll also discover more about financial aid policies at those colleges.

52 Weeks to College: Week 25

52 Weeks to College: Week 25

Most applicants assume that the best strategy for getting their college applications done is just to dive in and start writing essays. After all, the essays are the hardest, most time-consuming part, so if you get those knocked out, you'll be well ahead of the curve, right. Not exactly.