Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Year after year we see senior after senior making the same time management mistake as they play their last quarter in the college admissions game. It’s a mistake that has two negative consequences: first, it prevents them from doing their best work, and second, it inevitably leads to greater stress for them and their families. And their #1 accomplice in this crime? Their well-intentioned parents who simply want them to get their applications done… NOW!
Most of the seniors with whom we work at CollegePrepExpress are busy during the fall getting the best grades they can, preparing for their last SAT and/or ACT (juniors take note: if you set a goal to be DONE with your standardized tests in your junior year, you’ll gain a huge advantage and have much less stress in your senior year fall semester), and working on their CommonApps and Supplements. And that’s in addition to their regular commitments to sports, extracurriculars, community service, and other responsibilities they’ve had throughout high school. Not to mention trying to enjoy the status and privileges that go with being a senior. It’s a huge load to carry, creating levels of stress and anxiety most students have never experienced before. (One of the silver linings, though, is that it serves as great preparation for managing the million different directions in which they’ll be pulled in college.)
So what’s the mistake seniors make every year in September and October? Good question, glad you asked.
It’s that they don’t manage their time well by prioritizing their college admissions to-do list. Working on applications in the name of getting them done, often weeks and even months before their deadlines, they squander the opportunity to focus on school work, i.e., first marking period grades, and raising standardized test scores. For example, CPE is working with a number students taking the SATs and ACTs October through December. EARLy application deadlines are typically 11/1 and 11/15. Left to their own devices—and the often relentless nagging of their parents, who understandably want the applications finished—many of these students will spend significant time in September and October writing their personal essays, working on their activities list, and digging into the application supplements. (Incidentally, CPE’s advice is to do much of this work over the summer, but, if you didn’t do it, don’t fret, particularly if you’re not submitting an early application). By dividing their time and attention among school, test prep, and application writing, students tend not to do their best work on any of them, and juggling all these balls tends to raise stress to unprecedented levels. We see it every year.
A much better approach is to prioritize and work through your to-do list one item at a time. For example, if you’re taking an Novemebr SAT and/or ACT (you probably should unless you’re bad at math ;-), you should spend all, or at least most, of your time preparing for those exams. Once they’re over (at which point you can’t do anything to raise the scores), you turn your attention to the applications. It may get your parents off your back to finish your apps as soon as you can, but you might want to explain to them that given the college admissions calendar of exam dates and application deadlines, which of course you had nothing to do with, it is much smarter to work single-mindedly toward the next big deadline.
If you need help with either test prep or your apps, of course we’re here to help.
Sign up for one-one-one Consultation with Dr Yo, and check out our CommonApp Workshops Sept-Nov.