Schools
Prepare Early for Some College Applications Tasks
A rainy day between now and the start of school is a great time for your high school senior o get materials together that will be needed for this fall's college applications—seniors will just be busier when the school year arrives.
In a little over two weeks, Norwalk Public Schools will be opening their doors for the 2011-2012 school year, undoubtedly to both the joy and chagrin of students.
Even with the new term just around the corner, school is likely the furthest thing from many students’ minds.
For Norwalk's incoming high school seniors, it is never too early to begin thinking about their post-graduation plans. With school not in session right now, many students have limited responsibilities. Once school begins, and they have classes, after school activities and homework added onto other responsibilities such as jobs, their time becomes stretched very thin.
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Most colleges begin setting application deadlines around Nov. 1 for those students wishing to take advantage of early action and early decision options. This gives those students who wish to take advantage of these options just over two months to get their application materials together.
Even for students who plan to apply to colleges by the regular deadlines that come later in the year, the time they have to get their materials together is still limited.
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Typically within the first few weeks of school, students need to have lined up teachers to write them letters of recommendation for the schools they have chosen to apply to. Because teachers are often inundated with requests, students need to approach them as early in the year as possible.
The majority of colleges also request that students send a resume of their activities and achievements as part of their application. This is something that can easily be put together before school even begins, which makes one less thing students need to worry about getting together once school is back in session.
High school seniors have enough going on between college visits, academic responsibilities and other activities before adding in filling out multiple college applications. Getting a head start on materials that are not dependant on applications being available online can be a huge help in easing students’ stress later in the year, especially when deadlines are fast approaching.
Editor's note: A slightly different version of this article previously was published by .
