Last month, I received an e-mail from one of my students, who was worried because she got a B+ in AP Calculus.  She had received an acceptance letter from Stanford in December, and as is the case with all colleges, the offer of admission is conditional on the student maintaining her academic performance through senior year. As I explained to my very conscientious student, a single B grade on her transcript, especially in a challenging AP class, would not threaten her admission to Stanford. Now if she had ended the semester with straight C grades, there would be cause for concern.

Unlike my anxious senior, many students think that because they have worked so hard throughout high school, they have earned the right to slack off senior year, especially in the last few months. By now, their mid-year grades have been submitted to colleges, and some students have already been accepted at their favorite school. Why not kick back and enjoy life?

Do you really want to risk everything you’ve worked so hard for these last three and a half years? Every year, colleges around the country rescind admission offers. You are admitted to a college based on the information in your application, and if there are any changes, you need to let the college know. If you have dropped a class that was listed on the transcript you submitted to colleges, your application has changed. Colleges receive your final transcript during the summer, and you don’t want to find out in July that you no longer have a place in the freshman class.   

There’s another reason to keep working hard in school. It makes the transition to college level work easier. If you start procrastinating during senior year, it’s difficult to get back to good study habits when you arrive at college, where there will be lots of distractions and no parents reminding you to finish your history paper before you go out for pizza with your friends. 

If you’re waiting to hear from your favorite college, you may be feeling especially anxious during this next month. Some students deal with the anxiety and uncertainty about where they will be next year by distracting themselves in unhealthy ways.  This is a good time to learn how to manage stress by eating well, exercising and getting enough sleep.

While you do need to keep your grades up, making sure you have some fun throughout high school will help you avoid burnout. Just don’t go overboard quite yet. Summer is only three months away, and you will have plenty of time to play before you go off to college.

This year, the state of the economy is a real concern for students, parents and colleges. Public schools in many states are dealing with the double whammy of funding cuts and increasing numbers of students seeking admission. This year’s admissions process could be the most unpredictable we’ve ever seen.

University of California campuses could be facing midyear budget cuts and will certainly have less funding next year, while applications will surely increase. Students who would have easily been admitted to UC Santa Barbara or UC Davis in previous years may need to apply to less selective UC campuses. Cal State University campuses are likely to become more competitive as families seek lower-cost options. Even Cal states that have accepted all eligible students in past years will be turning away students this year. We will also see more students starting at community colleges, which offer a low-cost path to a UC or Cal State degree, if those schools have the funding to accommodate them.

Since private colleges can cost over $50,000 a year, you might expect applications to be down at these schools. But early action applications are up over 10 percent at Yale. Northwestern University has received 15 percent more early decision applications this year. Many of the most selective schools announced more generous financial aid policies in the past year, and that may be part of the reason that more students are applying to these very expensive colleges.

But even New York University’s early decision applications are up two percent over last year, despite the fact that the school does not promise to meet full financial need. At George Washington University, early decision applications are up 30 percent. Students have made the commitment to attend these schools if they are accepted, without knowing what financial aid package they will receive.

This is supposed to be the peak year for students graduating high school and applying to college, and perhaps that’s why application numbers are rising at a number of private as well as public schools. Many students who are not committing to early decision will apply to both private and public colleges and wait to see financial aid packages, as well as the condition of the family finances, in the spring.

Students who are applying to private colleges and don’t need financial aid could benefit from the state of the economy. College endowments are down, donations from alumni are going to be more difficult to come by, and admissions officers at some colleges that have been need-blind in the past may be forced to consider financial need in admissions decisions.

For years, I’ve advised students to apply to at least one “safety” school, where we can be sure they will be admitted. In this economy, it’s also important to apply to at least one “financial safety” school.

The best college applications weave together a student’s values, goals, interests and experiences. It may sound intimidating, but start by looking for common threads in the activities you’ve pursued.

For example, my student who loves theater has a lot of experience in school plays and community theater, as well as many acting classes. But in her college applications, she is also discussing her college coursework in psychology, which enhances her understanding of characters.

Even someone who has diverse interests can find ways to integrate them in an essay. Another student, who loves both science and politics, discussed the relationship between public policy and scientific developments. His experience as a leader in his school’s science and debate clubs supported his stated passion for these subjects.

The application is your chance to come alive as a person and to communicate your best qualities. Admissions officers love to see intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm, self-confidence, and initiative. Likeability helps too, as they will be thinking about how you might interact with other students. One admissions officer said he reads an application and then asks himself whether he would want to eat pizza with this person at midnight in the dorm. Readers are human and they get excited when they feel a bond with a student. Part of it is luck. If you write about the experience of growing up as an identical twin, and the admissions officer who reads your application is also a twin, there’s an instant connection. But there are ways to tap into universal feelings, and once you win over an admissions officer, you have an advocate, which is especially important at schools where decisions may be made by committee.

The school year is well under way, and high school seniors who are applying to college have a busy few months coming up. Keeping track of requirements and deadlines is crucial to having a smooth college application process.

If you haven’t finalized your list of colleges yet, it’s time to get serious about researching potential schools. Admissions officers from many colleges will be visiting high schools in the next few months, and these are valuable opportunities to ask questions about colleges you’re considering.

A number of Southern California schools, including USC, Pitzer College and Chapman University, have open house days for prospective students in October and November. These programs often include meetings with students and faculty, as well as tours and presentations about campus life.

If you want an interview with an admissions officer, it’s a good idea to call in the next few weeks since interview slots will fill up at schools like USC. Some highly selective colleges offer alumni interviews, and those are often scheduled after an application has been submitted to the admissions office.

Once you know where you’ll be applying, make a chart with the application requirements for each school. To make sure you stay on track, get a calendar and note every deadline date. You might include a reminder to yourself one week before each deadline.

If you are applying to colleges that require teacher recommendations, be considerate and give your teacher at least three or four weeks notice. Some teachers are asked to write recommendations for 20 or more students, and this is a time-consuming task that they do on their own time.

Ideally, you start working on essays at least a month before the application deadline. That gives you time to do several drafts. When you’re rushing to finish three applications in two days, it’s impossible to do a really thorough job on any of them. You want to tailor your application to each school, and that takes time.

What you don’t want to do is procrastinate until a week before an application deadline. In addition to being terribly stressful, last minute applications look thrown together and communicate to the college that you don’t care enough to put in the effort. Not a message you want to send.

When you think about all the things you have to do, especially if you’re applying to more than three or four colleges, it can feel overwhelming. But if you make a schedule, and spread out the workload with a few tasks each week, it will be manageable. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself for the best results.

Many seniors working on college applications are worried about what major to choose, and how that choice will impact their prospects for admission. Admissions officers know that college students typically change majors two or three times. If you’re applying to a liberal arts college, they don’t usually pay much attention to the major you choose on your application. It’s perfectly acceptable to say you’re undeclared. Some students think by choosing a subject that is under-enrolled at the college, they can increase their chances of being admitted, but they would need to show evidence of serious interest in that subject to have any impact on an admission decision.

University of California campuses don’t typically admit freshmen by major. There are certain programs, like engineering, that have different admission requirements and you do need to apply specifically for admission to those programs. And there are a few schools, like Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, that admit all students by major, and you need to choose carefully because it may not be easy to change majors once you’re enrolled at the school. But for most students, there is time to choose a major once you’re on campus.

Last year, one of my students submitted her application to the University of Colorado at Boulder early and was accepted by the end of September. Since Boulder was her first choice, this student had a stress-free senior year. But is applying early always a good idea?

It depends on the school. Rolling admission, which is more common at public universities, like University of Arizona, means your application will be reviewed as soon as it’s complete, and you could have a decision in 4-8 weeks. At some schools, like the University of Michigan, if there are a lot of early applications from strong students, those who apply later may be at a competitive disadvantage. Applying earlier can also mean priority consideration for scholarships, as well as housing, at some schools.

Students who apply in September will no longer get such a fast decision from Boulder, which has a new early notification plan. If you submit an application by December 15 you’ll have a decision sometime between December 16 and February 15. Apply by the regular deadline of February 15 and you will be notified by April 1.

Public schools in California have narrow application windows. The University of California accepts applications only from November 1-30 and most campuses release their decisions in March. There’s no advantage to submitting your application Nov. 1, but you don’t want to wait till the end of the month because it becomes very stressful, and when you’re rushed, it’s easy to make mistakes. The Cal State University application period is October 1 – November 30, and depending on the campus, decisions typically are released from January through March.

Everyone knows you need to include a “safety” school on your list of colleges, but if you really don’t like that school and would never want to go there, what’s the point? Make sure you can see yourself having a good experience at every college on your list, and your application process will be much less stressful and more satisfying.

If you think about the characteristics you want in a school, you can find several colleges with those characteristics. For example, if you want a medium to large university located in a city but with a real campus, huge selection of majors, strong school spirit, excellent access to internships, great study abroad programs, active Greek life, alumni who support the school and love to hire graduates – you might think of USC. Since USC is a tough admit even with a strong academic record, you need to add another school to your list. You could find all of these characteristics at SMU, which is not as difficult to get into and yet can provide a very similar college experience.

And it’s not just about being admitted. You might get into two or more schools, but if one awards you a scholarship, that school could become your first choice. Since you feel good about all the colleges you applied to, making your final choice based on cost won’t feel like a sacrifice.

Students who are starting the college application process can easily feel overwhelmed. It’s a stressful time for the whole family, and you don’t want college admission to become the only topic of conversation in the house. That just adds to the tension. Instead, try scheduling a weekly time to talk about college applications. Knowing that Sunday at 7:00 is college time can help students stay on track while reassuring their parents that they will have regular updates.

Another way to reduce stress is to help your child get organized. Students should make a chart with each school’s application requirements (transcript, test scores, recommendation letters, essays, etc) and deadlines. Scheduling one or two tasks a week will make the workload more manageable. Students can check off each requirement once they’ve completed it. This kind of chart will help them see the big picture and keep track of what they still need to do. It also helps them feel more in control of this often daunting process, and that makes things less stressful for everyone

Summer will be over in just a few weeks, and seniors who want to reduce the stress of college applications are working on their applications now. This is a great time to get those major essays written, but be sure to pay close attention to the entire application.

Several admissions directors have told me they read the “Why do you want to attend our school?” short essays very carefully. One admissions officer said that students don’t usually get help on these questions like they do on the longer essays, so he believes he gets a writing sample that is truly the student’s work.

Another reason to spend time on this question is that some colleges try to gauge how serious a student is about attending the school. Knowing what is distinctive about the college and being able to say why it is a good match for you tells admissions officers that you’re motivated enough to do some research and write a thoughtful answer to the question.

There’s another, perhaps more important reason to think carefully about this question. It helps you clarify your reasons for choosing a certain school, and if you can’t come up with anything to say, perhaps you shouldn’t be applying to that school. Being able to articulate what you want and how you would fit into a college community not only improves your chances of admission, it gives you a better chance of making a good college match, and that’s real success.