Post By: COYD Staff
The holiday season has started, and you might be tempted to jump into vacation mode a little too early. December is an important month in college admissions, and there are things you need to keep in mind before you check out for the holidays.
First, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Even though you might be a strong candidate for the school to which you applied early, you never know what the final outcome will be. You should pretty much have finished the applications for the set of colleges to which you have decided to apply if you don’t get in early to your first choice of schools. Like we have discussed before, you should have a good number of safety, match, and reach schools in this group.
By the time you receive your early decision/action outcome, a rejection or a deferral, you will only have a few weeks until the regular decision deadline. You should spend more time and effort on your regular decision applications than you spent on the early decision application because there is more than one application on which to focus. By the time you hear the sleigh bells ringing, you should have completed your applications. Many universities’ regular decision application deadline is January 1.
Second, you need to make sure your guidance counselor and teachers have all turned in their letters of recommendation. Follow up with them politely. They have a lot on their plate, so a kind reminder would be helpful.
And thirdly, make sure that all SAT scores are sent to the colleges to which you are applying. If you recently took the SAT or SAT 2 tests, make sure those have been sent in.
Welcome to December and for many, the last month of filling out applications!
