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Time English (United States) Language 2 Action
00:06
So you’ve decided to apply to college.
00:07
Fantastic.
00:08
Now you just need to condense your entire background, your qualifications,
00:12
and the whole story of your life into like 3 or 4 very specific types of documents.
00:17
Luckily, this is actually not as hard as it sounds.
00:20
By the end of this episode, we’ll have broken down the college application into a few steps.
00:24
While colleges do ask for a lot of information,
00:28
it’s easiest to understand what you need by taking a bird’s eye view of the process.
00:31
Hi, I’m Erica Brozovsky and this is Crash Course: How to College,
00:35
a Study Hall series presented in partnership with Arizona State University.
00:38
Let’s go on a little walkthrough of the college application.
00:42
[INTRO MUSIC PLAYS]
00:49
The first step to apply to college is to figure out where you might want to go and why!
00:53
Your preferences will be personal.
00:54
Maybe you’re looking for a match that’s close to your family,
00:57
and if it’s not… things just aren’t going to work out.
00:59
Or maybe your deal breaker is cost.
01:01
Remember though, there might be room for compromise:
01:03
We’ll talk about how to pay for college in an upcoming episode
01:06
and we discussed how to find the right school for you in our second episode.
01:09
When you’re ready to apply, you’ll want to think about how
01:11
competitive it will be to get into each school by looking at their selectivity, or rate of
01:16
admission.
01:17
To ensure that you’ll be able to attend college next year,
01:19
include some “safe” schools that you know you’re well-qualified to attend
01:22
and that have a high admissions rate compared to others on your list.
01:25
In general, community colleges and trade schools accept more students,
01:29
so you won’t typically have to worry about categorizing them by competitiveness.
01:33
Getting into college is no guarantee.
01:35
Every year, students receive admissions decisions that surprise them,
01:38
so it’s best to choose some schools that are a safe bet.
01:41
Sometimes though, students receive admissions decisions that are a more pleasant surprise.
01:44
That’s why many students choose to include “reach” schools
01:47
that they would love to attend but are more competitive.
01:49
If you make a good case for yourself and submit a solid application,
01:53
you never know, so don’t underestimate yourself!
01:56
Applying to a school that might be a stretch could pay off,
01:58
so it’s a good strategy to include at least one on your list.
02:01
The core of your list of colleges should be schools that match your level of achievement
02:04
and meet your most important criteria.
02:06
Thinking about whether a school will want you is important,
02:09
but it’s also important to think about whether you want the school
02:12
and whether these are places where you feel safe and where you’ll be able to learn and
02:16
thrive.
02:17
It’s hard to get a sense of a campus's culture as an outsider,
02:20
but seeing how a school talks about themselves on their websites
02:22
or talking to current students can be really illuminating.
02:26
Ask students what activities they are involved in and what they like about their classes
02:29
and their professors.
02:30
It’s also a good idea to look for opportunities to meet with representatives
02:33
of the colleges that interest you.
02:34
One way to do this is to attend “college fairs,” which are often hosted at high schools.
02:39
Some schools offer ways to connect with alumni or current students,
02:42
sometimes called “admissions ambassadors,” so you can get
02:45
a personal perspective from someone on the school’s academics or campus culture.
02:48
You might not know what types of schools you prefer until you see them,
02:52
so consider visiting a campus in person or virtually as you make your list.
02:55
So with some research and some forethought about deal breakers,
02:58
we really can narrow down the hundreds of possible colleges to just a few
03:02
that we’re actually excited about applying to.
03:04
And finally, applying to college can be expensive.
03:07
Some students want to apply to many schools to give themselves good odds for acceptance,
03:11
but it’s normal to feel discouraged by the cost of applications,
03:14
which can easily add up.
03:15
Don’t be afraid to ask about fee waivers.
03:18
Admissions representatives, college counselors, or current students
03:20
may be able to help you find ways to avoid paying a fee for every application you submit.
03:24
This information is not always out in the open, so it’s worth spending time
03:28
to find out or ask someone at the school.
03:30
Once you have a list, the next step is to collect documents related to your qualifications,
03:34
which you might have organized already if you watched our last episode on preparing
03:37
to apply to college!
03:38
First, you’ll need a transcript, which is an official record of all the courses you
03:42
took
03:43
and the grades you got from any high school or GED program that you attended.
03:46
This proves that you’ve met your school’s and state’s requirements for secondary education.
03:50
Second, some schools also require standardized test scores, like SAT or ACT scores,
03:56
which demonstrate how much you've mastered general knowledge concepts.
03:59
Check out our previous episodes for more information,
04:02
but it's important to remember that while we're in this global pandemic,
04:05
many schools have waived the SAT or ACT exam entirely.
04:08
So be sure you know what the school you're applying to expects before you make plans.
04:12
The third, and most open-ended aspect of your college application,
04:15
will be your own personal writing.
04:17
Most schools require a personal statement or college essay.
04:20
This is usually a 1-2 page essay that will give you the chance
04:23
to show the admissions committee who you are outside of test scores and grades.
04:27
This is when you get to talk about yourself, show your personality,
04:30
and contextualize all the little bits and pieces of your application.
04:33
It's your chance to show who you are as a person,
04:35
and why that person is a good fit for this college.
04:38
In addition, you may have supplemental questions to answer,
04:41
or a writing sample to select.
04:43
Let's go to the Thought Bubble.
04:44
Say Ana is thinking about going back to college after working for a few years after high school.
04:48
In her personal statement, she’ll want to explain what sort of
04:51
student she’d be and what she might bring to the college.
04:54
It’s her first time writing a personal statement,
04:56
and that can be a little uncomfortable.
04:57
It’s a new experience, since so far she’s mostly written essays
05:01
about novels or historical events for her teachers.
05:04
Ana has probably written tons of emails, text messages,
05:07
and social media posts, and maybe even some journal entries.
05:10
A personal statement will be somewhat similar to those things,
05:13
because it’ll be written in the first-person, but it will also be a bit different
05:17
because Ana will be using her statement to pitch her best qualities.
05:20
Since this time it’s all about Ana, it’s okay for her to brag and explain why she’s
05:24
proud of herself.
05:25
Ana has already added her resume to her college application
05:28
and doesn’t want her personal statement to be a repeat of that.
05:31
Instead, her personal statement will tell a story about how she developed her interests,
05:35
values, and pursuits,
05:37
and then make the case that she would be a great addition to the student body at that
05:40
college.
05:41
Ana decides to follow some time-tested writing advice: “Show, don’t tell.”
05:45
Instead of writing, “I have experience leading a group,” she may tell the story
05:48
about how organizing a group project with her lab partners
05:50
helped her realize she has the ability to delegate and lead others.
05:54
For your own personal statement,
05:55
you might tell the story of how your first volleyball injury inspired you