College Countdown

"Traditionally the most daunting and frustrating activity a student and family sets out to accomplish is the college search. Anything that can minimize this anxious time is appreciated."
Robert E. N., Chairperson
Pupil Personnel Services, High School

(click here to go to each section)
What paper? What volume?
Here's How!
    Sort the Mail
    College Materials
    Trimming Down during the Junior Year
    Consolidate
    Final Six
    Scholarships
    Timing
    Down Paper Monster, down!
    The Final Countdown

What paper? What volume?
· The top of the ping-pong table a foot deep!
· Your closet stuffed with view books and catalogs!
· Underneath your bed, good thing you’re the one supposed 
    to vacuum under there!
· Lawn & leaf bags – 50 pounds each!
· The dining room table is covered and you can’t use it for two years!
· The mail delivery person has to rubber band stuff to the outside of    
   your mailbox because the inside is also stuffed with college stuff for
   you!
· The college material for you outweighs the junk mail!

Here's How!
 

Sort the mail as it comes through the door. Say, for example, you hate math and you get a brochure for an engineering school, throw it out immediately. Tame the Paper Monster now while he is still small. If you’re not sure, don’t throw away the rest of it yet. Just put it somewhere in a box or two. If you aren’t at a decision point yet, then sort by regions and states.

COLLEGE MATERIALS

HANGING FILE FOLDERS

Get several large boxes (cardboard or plastic boxes with the sliding drawers work well), a lot of regular file folders and the hanging file folders from your kit. Mark the hanging file folders with geographical regions or whatever large sorting criteria makes sense to you. Your aim here is to somehow get a handle on the amount of paper. Following the example of geography, then mark the regular file folders with the states’ names. Place them within the appropriate region as an example, "California" within the "West Region" hanging file folder. As the materials come in the door, put them in the appropriate file folder.

So when does this start? For some teens, it’s as early as 8^th and 9^th grade, if they were participants in their regional academic talent searches or were a state or regionally recognized athlete or musician. 

Now, not tomorrow, is the best time to start your student resume. Click here for information on why you need a student resume and a Resume Worksheet.

But for the rest of you (which is most of you), the avalanche of paper starts after they have taken their first college admissions test: PSAT, PLAN, ACT or SAT.

Fast forward and it’s now your junior year in high school. It’s time to bring the hundreds of colleges down to some manageable number.

TRIMMING DOWN

DURING THE JUNIOR YEAR

Get out the top college search parameters you worked on earlier. If it’s been awhile since you’ve worked on them, re-evaluate and make sure that they are still valid. For example, if geography isn’t a criterion for you, then go through each state and pull the colleges that meet your top criteria – such as what you think your major or area of interest might be. But if geography is one of your sorting mechanisms, then pull the states that fit the criteria. Put the "active" states/schools into a separate box(es). [Again, don’t throw away the schools that don’t fit into your scheme – not yet. Just put them in boxes by themselves. You never know what could spark your interest in the next year.

Think you’re done? No way. You may have narrowed it down to a few dozen schools but the fun hasn’t even begun yet. You’ll need to try and narrow the vast amount of colleges down to ten or 12. How do you narrow all the schools down to just ten to 12? Based on the criteria you feel is most important to you – for example: tuition, availability of scholarships, area of study (major), urban or rural, and student population – sort through the file folders.

Another way to pare down number of colleges and universities, by breaking them down into the three groups: (1) "reach" college – a school you really want to go to buy may have a hard time getting into (2) reasonably attainable colleges and (3) sure-shot colleges (those you know you’ll get into.)

CONSOLIDATE

Move the materials and file folders for your top ten to 15 choices into a different box from the rest. Put each school in its own file folder. On the front of the file folder, write the name of the college rep, the phone numbers, etc. This will make it easier to make phone calls and arrange college visits. Put this active box somewhere it easily can be found. [Again, don’t throw the other stuff away yet. Just add the box(es) to the stack!]

Worried about narrowing your list of colleges down? Don’t! With all your brainstorming, the information on your College Call Checklists from of the College Countdown: The Parent’s and Student’s Survival Kit for the College Admissions Process, your conversations with college admissions reps, it will happen automatically. Arrange to visit the campuses of some of your top picks sometime during second semester or summer. As you visit each school, take the College Call Checklist. Take notes as you go. If you wait until you get home, you’re bound to forget. The colleges will all start running together in your mind after awhile, especially if you visit more than one college per visit.

For the final six: Use the blue heavy duty file folders from your kit for the admission application and the application supporting documentation and application checklist for each school. Write all names and phone numbers on the blue file folder.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Use the yellow file folders from your kit for any separate scholarship applications and scholarship supporting documentation for the school. Slip this yellow scholarship folder inside the blue college application folder. Label the tabs so you can easily tell which school the folders belong to if they become separated.

Use the expanding folder for each university and keep the application and scholarship folders PLUS all documentation for that school in that expanding file.

Keep all of these active files in a box separate from the remaining other colleges.

If you are applying for independent scholarships, start a new expanding file folder for independent scholarships. File this large file folder in the box with your final schools’ folders. File each independent scholarship application, Checklist and supporting documentation should be in its yellow own file folder which will be placed in the expanding file folder.

TIMING
Fill out as many applications out as possible during the summer to relieve the stress during the fall semester. Remember some deadlines for scholarships (both school-based and independent) are in early fall (September/October).

For the applications that are not available during the summer, look through your accumulated documentation for prior years’ applications from your final six. Or check with your guidance counseling office for old applications. Essays may or may not change from year-to-year, but they often will be similar. Spend the summer accumulating data and practicing the essays.

Get your resume in great shape, because every application, scholarship application, and special recognition program will want a copy (to their own specifications, of course). Click here for information on Student Resumes.
 

Down Paper Monster, down!

This is not the time to lose anything. You have to keep your college files in check. Each time you speak with an admissions rep, make a note of it and put it in the file for that school.

You must be neurotic about these files, keeping them updated, maintained, etc. – especially if there is a dispute over a deadline and missing information. Use the Application/Scholarship Checklist from the College Countdown: The Parent’s and Teen’s Survival Kit for the College Application Process to help you keep each application under control.

Make copies of absolutely everything. You never know when you’ll need them to replace ones that were lost, or substantiate check numbers or dates. Yes, this will mean a lot of paper, but it will be worth it if something is questioned.

Triple-check (yes, triple check) each application package before you take it to your high school for any counseling recommendations and/or high school transcript. And then have someone else read it.

Make sure that your copy of the application package is assembled in exactly the same order, etc. that the original is in. Paperclip the pieces of the package to keep it separate from the other supporting documentation in the file. Then re-file your copy in the appropriate application folder.

As a follow-up procedure (and to provide backup), attach a stamped self-addressed post card with any application, form, etc. that is being mailed outside of your control (a.k.a. at your high school). Samples of these postcards are in the College Countdown: A Parent’s and Teen’s Survival Kit for the College Application Process.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

As you receive feedback and information from colleges, etc., make sure you make the appropriate notations on the Application & Scholarship Checklists.

After you make your final decision; make sure you send back your acceptance letter by the deadline. Usually that is May 1^st, but some colleges have other deadlines. Admissions and housing deposits are usually required at this time. Make the notations on your Application Checklist.

Send letters declining admissions and scholarship offers to the other schools. Make sure you say "thanks."

Make sure you send all the acceptance paperwork necessary for your scholarships, etc. by the response deadlines. This is for both school-based scholarships and independent scholarships.

After all is said and done, unearth the lamp table of boxes of college materials. Donate the View Books and catalogues to your school or some lucky junior. Have fun with the rest.

For the school you accepted, move those files to an active place in your home. You and your parents will be adding to these files for the next several years.

For the other schools to which you were accepted, but declined, pack the files in a box, seal it, label it, and put it away where it can be found easily – just in case you change your mind along the way.

Once you are in college, the Paper Monster doesn’t stop. Make sure you keep your paperwork current on loans and scholarships. Send paperwork home that needs to be kept for the duration (and not lost).

© 2005 [Wildwood Country Press]. All rights reserved.
Revised: August 09, 2005 .

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