How Hard Is It To Get Into College

As high school students begin to enter into their junior and senior year, they start to wonder…how hard is it to get into college?

Although the college application and admissions process may appear to be daunting at first, the process of getting into college isn’t as hard as you may think.

In this article, we’ll give you a step by step process to follow as you prepare to start your journey of getting into college.

The first step to getting into college is to figure out what type of school you want to attend. This could be dictated by a number of different factors, such as your desired major or career path, how close or far away from home you want to be, tuition costs, etc.

For example, if you’re interested in theatre, you may focus your search on a school that has a great theatre department or if you’re interested in civil engineering, you may want to narrow in on schools with great engineering programs.

Conversely, you may not have a clue as to what you want to major in. Don’t worry, that’s okay too. Take some time to evaluate your likes and dislikes. What were your favorite high school courses and why? What do you love to do in your spare time? Discuss these activities with your parents and/or your school counselor. They may be able to help you evaluate different career options.

Still undecided? No worries, you can still go to college. There are a lot of students who don’t choose a college major right away. Your freshman year schedule will likely consist of general education courses, so you don’t have to worry about falling behind your classmates and not graduating on time.

What are general education courses? General education courses are courses that all students must take in order to graduate. They are not linked to any specific program or major.

The second step to getting into college is determining your top 3-5 schools. Why 3-5 schools you ask? Because, you want to give yourself some options…Every school on your list should be a school that you wouldn’t mind attending if you were to get accepted. You never want to put all your eggs in one basket. Also, at least 1-2 of these schools should be “safety net” schools. A safety net school is a school that you are highly confident that you will be accepted into based on their admissions requirements and your high school background.

Why not more than 5 schools? If you have more than 5 schools that you are absolutely interested in attending, then I would encourage you to apply to all of them…BUT you don’t want to overwhelm yourself. The application process with 3-5 schools will be stressful enough, trust me!!! Besides, don’t forget to factor in those application fees. They can really start adding up if you get out of hand and start applying to a lot of schools.

The third step is to outline each school’s admissions requirements. This will help you determine specifically what each school is looking for. Each school’s admissions requirements are generally based on the following factors:

• Recommendation letters
• Essay questions
• High school transcripts
• SAT/ACT scores
• Interview (if applicable)

The last step is to APPLY! The most important thing to remember here is to read the directions carefully and pay close attention to deadlines.

Most applications will require at least one letter of recommendation. Make sure that you give your recommenders enough time to complete the letter of recommendation for you. This is why it is important to pay attention to deadlines.

Don’t forget to say THANK YOU to those who agree to write letters for you. Remember that they’re doing you a favor, so you never want to take this for granted.

Here’s an example of a short thank you email that you can send to show appreciation:

Dear Mr. Jones:

Thank you for taking the time to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf. I understand that recommendation letters take a great deal of energy, time, and effort. I appreciate your support throughout this process.

Sincerely,

Sally

Most applications will also require you to write essays. These can sometimes be a pain, so it’s important that you give yourself enough time to brainstorm, write a rough draft, get input from others, make edits, and complete the final draft. This is a key part of the application, so you want to make sure that you stand out amongst the pool of applicants.

Remember to proofread for any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors. Not only will these types of errors leave a poor impression on the admissions committee, they will also distract the reader from your core message.

You also want to make sure that you get your ACT/SAT scores along with your transcripts sent over to the college with your application. You should work with your high school counselor to facilitate this process.

Once you’ve completed and gathered all of your required documents, you should review it all one last time before mailing it out.

Congratulations, you did it! Now you tell me…how hard is it to get into college? Not that hard at all, right? It just requires a little effort and organization. Now sit back, relax and wait for those acceptance letters to start rolling in!