Summer College Application Tips

Today we’ll be talking about how to plan for college applications over the summer. The summer can be really crucial to planning out your college application process as you may have more free time and can help avoid rushing the process during the school year! Read on for some general tips and some more specific tips on essay writing. As always, RRA is here to help to brainstorm ideas or to act as a sounding board!

General Tips

• Narrow down your college list: while finalizing your list of colleges to apply to may not be completely necessary, having a general idea of the colleges you want to apply to can help you brainstorm essay ideas and further hone in your focus on a few crucial schools!

• Learn as much as you can about the colleges you are interested in: Summer is perfect for college visits virtual or in person — virtual visits through videos or just browsing websites can be really helpful! Likewise, listening to schools’ virtual webinars/seminars can be really helpful to demonstrate interest and get your questions answered!

• Continue pursuing your passion project: from our newsletters and articles before, pursuing your passion project (whether volunteering, research, tutoring) over the summer is crucial! However, don’t be afraid to start looking for new projects/further developments for the fall - while senior fall may feel “too late” to start anything new/continue something from before, that’s not true! The summer (or the middle/end of it) of junior year can be a great time to continue demonstrating your interest and passion in a field.

  • Likewise, if you are a rising senior, certain places like hospitals may be more likely to allow you to shadow someone!

Besides general tips, the summer before college application season goes into full force is a great time to write your essays:

• Start brainstorming (and writing) your Common App Essay: believe me, it can be really daunting to start writing the essay that feels like it will define your application. However, getting started early can be exactly what you need to avoid further stress!

  • Write/brainstorm ideas of what you are passionate about - what kind of story do you want to tell? What has shaped you?

  • Alternatively, people have suggested writing a “timeline” of your life (ie important events, when you started picking up important hobbies, any moves etc.) may be helpful!

  • Reading other people’s essays can be helpful – but I remember being very intimate too! Keep in mind that these essays online are a result of a lot of editing and the first few drafts will definitely be rough/not as fully fleshed out!

• Write as many essays as you can! Google past essay prompts from the schools you are interested in and compile their prompts in a Google Doc. Keep in mind that these prompts may have changed year to year but in general, most schools will have 2 - 3 prompts that are around the following:

  • “Why Us”: A lot of schools will require a school specific essay – starting research early about this school and its perks, programs etc. will be helpful.

  • “Why this Major/Passion?” This essay can be easier to write (and don’t be afraid to copy/paste it to other schools with modifications of course!).

  • “Overcoming a challenge”: this essay seeks to look at how you define challenges and face them and how that’s played into your strengths. Be realistic but positive.

Again, summer is really a great time to get a head start on parts of the college application. However, it’s important to ape things out and maybe create a timeline in June of how you want this summer to go! RRA is here to help with that. Join us next week for more essay writing tips.