Not all colleges had more early applications. Yale saw an 18 percent decrease in Early Action applications, which is probably because Harvard offered an Early Action option this year, and these schools don’t allow students to apply early to other colleges.  The new Harvard early option probably also accounts for modest decreases in Early Decision applications at Columbia and University of Pennsylvania.  But all of these schools may see increases in Regular Decision applications.  Students need to submit their strongest applications.

That’s why it’s important to keep working throughout this month.  Getting a rejection in mid-December can be a crushing disappointment, and it is very hard to recover from that emotional blow and do your best work on seven other applications when you have just two weeks till the early January deadlines.  While it may be difficult to push yourself to work on applications now while you’re waiting to get into your favorite college, it will be much harder after a rejection.  If you have finished your other applications and you are denied or deferred by your early school, you will be very relieved that your applications are ready to submit.  Best case scenario is that you are accepted at your early school, and in that case you will be so excited that you won’t care about the unnecessary work you did on other applications.

Students who did not submit early applications really have no reason to wait, and if they haven’t completed an application yet, it’s especially important to get started.  In addition to writing essays, you need to complete the activities/community service/work experience section, and you want to write those descriptions concisely and accurately.  Admissions officers appreciate an application that is clear and easy to read.  Print out the application so you can proofread it.  You may find that some of your activity descriptions are cut off, requiring you to rewrite them.  All of this takes time.  Add the stress of rushing to finish seven supplements in the last few days and you are more likely to make mistakes.  You also risk your computer or the server crashing, or a winter storm that knocks out your electricity right before the application deadline.  

Once you submit the Common Application to one school, you cannot make changes to that application.  If you applied Early Decision/Early Action and now want update your awards, activities or test scores, or would like to tailor your application to one college, you can create an alternate version.  After you log in, go to the Instructions page and scroll down to “Application Versions” for step by step instructions.  The alternate version will have all the information from your first version and you can edit as you wish.  However, any documents you uploaded will not transfer to the alternate version, so be sure to upload your essay to the alternate version.

Remember that with the Common Application you need to submit the application, supplement and payment separately.  Students sometimes think that once they submit payment, the application automatically follows.  Since it can take up to 48 hours for your payment to be processed, waiting until the day of a deadline means your application might not be submitted in time.  Check the My Colleges page to confirm that your applications have been submitted.  You can also see if your counselor and teacher have submitted their forms.

If you have questions as you’re working on the Common Application, the “Help” button at the top of the Common Application will take you to the Applicant Support Center.  If you don’t find the answer to your question there, you can contact technical support.

There are a number of changes this year which will impact the college application process. University of Southern California has joined the Common Application. The good news is students won’t have to complete a separate USC application (although there will still be a USC supplement). The not so good news is that applications are likely to increase, resulting in a lower acceptance rate.

University of California will no longer require scores from two Subject Tests. That doesn’t mean you should forget about Subject Tests, since strong scores will enhance your UC application, and they could be important if you are applying to certain programs, including engineering. Subject Tests are still required or recommended at a number of highly selective colleges.

While UC, California State University and many other public colleges don’t require recommendations, you will need a teacher recommendation for any school using the Common Application. Teachers can be overwhelmed with requests, and some limit the number of letters they will write, so be sure to ask your teacher early in the school year.

The Common Application is online now. Start filling out the basic information like name, address and high school. There’s something very satisfying about finishing at least part of the application, and once you are in application mode, it may be easier to get into the essays.

While the UC and Cal State applications won’t open until October 1, the UC personal statement prompts are available now at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/personal-statement/index.html. 

Your goal in an application essay is to convey something you want admissions officers to know about you that they won’t learn from the rest of the application. You may need to go through several ideas before you find one that works. Keep brainstorming until you’re excited, because if you’re excited about writing an essay, it’s more likely to be exciting for the reader.

It helps to break the process into manageable parts. For each essay you might schedule several days for brainstorming ideas, a week to write a first draft, and another week to revise the first draft.  I tell my students that essays don’t take shape until the third, fourth or even fifth draft. This process takes time and that’s why you need to start now.

Give yourself a final deadline for each application that is at least one week and preferably two weeks before the real deadline, so that you have built in some extra time in case you get off schedule because of a major test or paper. Having your applications completed well before deadlines will mean less stress for everyone in the family.