Labor Day Weekend College Application To-Do List
+ dates to add to calendar
To-Do:
Finalize building your college list; carefully cull this list, keeping acceptance rates in mind; see book suggestion below for additional help
Fill in all the details of your Common App
Low-income students: request application or testing fee waivers via high school counselor
Compile a list of all supplemental essays; begin writing
Focus first on completing a rolling decision application to a target or likely school, an Early Action application to a target school, and finishing essays for an Early Decision (if applicable) application
Request Letters of Recommendation (LORs) from teachers of core subjects; hand this teacher a polished copy of your Student Activity Sheet or resume to help them help you
College is happening, and it’s happening FAST
October 1: FAFSA opens
October 4: SAT
October 15: Deadline for some Early Action/Early Decision schools; check your list carefully to see if any of your schools fall on this date
October 18: ACT
October 31: All Early Action and Early Decision applications should be submitted before Halloween!
November 1: Most universities Early Action and Early Decision deadline
November 8: SAT
November 26-28: Over the Thanksgiving holiday, handwrite thank-you notes to teachers and counselors who helped you with the application process and/or wrote your LORs
December 1: Finalize FAFSA and CSS Profile submissions
Mid-December: ED decisions arrive; check your email daily! If admitted Early Decision, immediately withdraw all other applications and pay deposit
January 1-15, 2026: Deadline for many Regular Decision applications
Finalize your college list
There are ~6,000-6,500 postsecondary institutions in the United States that can be broken down into three categories:
Degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions
Two-year and four-year colleges
Public, private, and for-profit schools
Most schools accept most students, but even an impressive GPA + perfect SAT score will not change the acceptance rate numbers to highly selective colleges and universities.
Holistic admissions consider grades, test scores, and non-academic metrics such as personal essays, extracurricular activities, recommendations, background, and personal qualities or unique talents, are also considered but are rarely disclosed. Highly selective institutions accept only a small fraction of applications, even from highly qualified candidates.
While many student resumes are super impressive, there are tens of thousands of applicants out there with similar metrics. The math is not cumulative; applying to more of these highly selective schools will not increase a student’s overall chances of acceptance.
Acceptance to a highly selective college or university is rare; I know this is not what most students and parents want to hear, but the sooner everyone accepts this truth, the more successful a student can be in the overall process of finding a good social, academic, and financial fit.
Study for standardized tests
Many colleges require submitted standardized test scores be completed before the application deadline; therefore, first semester senior year is the last opportunity for students looking to take advantage of early applications (which we recommend.) Consider a practice test, review book, online tools, or course to help you study.
Review online college application options
Some colleges use the Common App, some use the Coalition App, and some colleges use their own proprietary application portal. Colleges don’t care if you choose the Common App or the Coalition App, so I recommend choosing the one that covers the most schools on your list. Complete as much of initial applications as possible, such as the profile information and self-reporting of grades.
Explore academic interests
ESSAY CURE students begin with the Maxwell DISC Student/Career Assessment. Identifying a student’s unique interests and and talents helps us to hone in on options for major courses of study. Identifying a major course of study is a huge portion of the college search process; if a student is undecided, it’s important to identify institutions that will foster such exploration of a major without the student incurring costly extra semesters.
Prepare a plan for college application essays
Create a document to list all essay prompts from all colleges. Depending on the number of schools you apply to, you may have more than a dozen to two dozen essays (of varying lengths) that you may need to complete. Some of these essays can overlap and possibly be repurposed, but most will need tailoring to each specific school.
Work on essays
A standout college application essay is one of the ways students differentiate themselves from other highly qualified applicants, so give yourself ample time to produce the best essay you can. Begin by brain-dumping ideas — don’t waste time polishing an idea that turns out to be not very interesting or doesn’t answer the question the prompt is asking. Students can expect to budget many hours on essays for each college; for this reason, we recommend a student’s list be carefully culled.
Prepare mentally for senior year
Students: please remember to sleep, relax, recharge, and breathe. You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are. We want you to show up to senior year ready to learn and grow, and the best way to do that is to practice self-care throughout this process. Stay humble. Stay curious.
Parents, transition from driver to coach. At this stage, it is crucial that students demonstrate self-advocacy (independence, readiness to leave home) in front of teachers and counselors who may be writing LORs. Resist the temptation to reach out on their behalf.
In my experience, seniors who are given the freedom — and support — to make their own decisions (and mistakes) fare far better than those who are ultimately forced to live with the consequences of decisions made by their parents. Seniors who own their college application process (including the natural consequences of missed deadlines) experience incredible lifelong confidence boosts in even the smallest of wins.
