It’s that time of the year! College application season is in full swing until January. If you are reading this in June, you have ample time to finalize everything and work on your essay. If it’s August or September, don’t worry! You are still on track to submit your applications by the priority deadline (November 1).
College applications comes with its own set of lingo, and it is important to understand what certain terms mean. Any term that is colored in this color is important and will be defined in the text.
Step 1: Making a Common Application Account
The Common Application is a platform that you will use to apply to most colleges, and it is where your guidance counselors can upload your information easily (transcripts, school reports, and letters of recommendation, all of which will be covered further down!). This step is simple – simply go to the following link and create an account.
I would recommend making a new email account specifically for college applications and using that for your Common Application account.
After making your account, use this video to click around and understand the parts of the Common Application!
Step 2: Linking Common App with Xello
Now that you have a Common App account, let’s get you introduced to Xello. It’s basically a hub for scholarships, resume-building, and college applications. This is where your counselors will upload your documents, so it is crucial to connect it to your Common App account.
To access Xello, simply go to HCPS Hub, log in with your Canvas credentials, and find the app that says “Xello”. Once in the app, use this video to connect your account to your Common App account.
Xello is very useful for other things as well, including shortlisting scholarships, making a student resumé, and keeping track of your colleges.
Once they are linked, you can add colleges in your Common App account, and the changes will reflect on Xello. Now, you are ready to move on to the next step: creating your college list!
Step 3: The College List
Applying to college is quite straightforward as long as you know which colleges you are applying to! Let me introduce you to the various options for choosing your colleges. We will begin with the Three for Three system that gives you nine schools.
1. Three for Three System
- Safeties: Identify three schools whose average academic stats are lower than yours that are financially feasible and you would consider attending if accepted.
- Targets: Identify theree schools whose average academic stats are on par or slightly lower than yours that is financially feasible and you would attend if accepted.
- Reaches: Identify three schools that have modestly higher academic stats than you currently have and ensure that they are need-blind and are committed to meeting your full demonstrated need (more about this a bit further down!)
As a student of Leto, you should definitely apply to USF and HCC. Other common safeties and targets within Florida include UCF, UNF, FIU, FAU, Stetson, etc.
Keep in mind that private schools like Saint Leo University and Stetson will give you a lot of aid – some of my peers received over $200,000 for four years! If that’s something you are interested in, definitely apply!
For your reaches, make sure to apply to need-blind schools that meet full demonstrated aid if accepted (covered in depth further down!). Depending on your test scores and GPA, hedging your bets accordingly will maximize your chances of bagging an affordable and high ranked school!
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2. The Florida Blessing – Five Schools
As a resident of Florida, you have access to highly ranked schools at a fraction of the price thanks to in-state tuition. Below, I will address what statistics will make you competitive for UF, the best college in the state.
If you have a 1330+ SAT or 29+ ACT, along with a 3.75+ GPA, you are in a great position to get into UF. If you are in this boat, your college list could look something like
USF, UCF, FSU, UF, (Some Reach School)
By reducing your number of applications, you can focus on your FSU and UF applications and play for the very attainable scenario of being accepted to all four Florida schools.
If you have lower stats, don’t worry! The Three for Three method might be a better fit for you where you can focus on more schools at your level.
3. The Shotgunner
If you are at the top of your class, have mostly straight As and a few Bs on your transcript, and have 1400+ SAT scores or 30+ ACT scores, you are in a great position to get into a highly ranked school.
The term “shotgun” means to cast a wide net, applying to, say, 15+ schools, with a lot of reaches, in the hopes of bagging at-least one of them. This method appeals to students who are ambitious and committed to putting in the work on many longer applications.
I was actually a shotgunner due to various reasons, and I will provide my insights in this guide for those of you who wish to go down that road!
Physically Adding the Colleges:
No matter which college list you go for, you need to add the specific colleges to your Common App from the “My Colleges” tab. This will also link to Xello and allow your counselor to complete your documents.
Step 4. Understanding Financial Need
What does it mean when a school is need-blind, need-aware, and committed to meeting full need? Well, let us first dispel some very dangerous misconceptions about financial aid and college.
75 Colleges That Meet Full Financial Need | Money
The link above lists the 75 schools that “meet full demonstrated need“. This means that if accepted, they will cover all the costs that they do not expect you to pay. For most of these schools, if your family makes $100,000 or less with typical assets, you go for free.
Yes, free. No loans, no cost to your family. Free. Many people look at the sticker price for these colleges and feel disheartened – Yale University, for example, has a sticker price of $84,000 per year. But if you apply for financial aid, you can go for free if you meet the income threshold! This shows that when applying to these 75 schools, cost is not a large factor at all.
Within these 75 universities, a large portion of them is need-blind. This means that your ability to pay does NOT factor into the admissions decision. In other words, your application is not treated any differently than the application of someone who is paying the full sticker price. Note that many more schools are need-blind but do NOT meet full need. Avoid these schools if cost is a factor.
Some schools, such as Colby College, are need-aware, which means that your ability to pay may factor into your admissions decision. However, if you are admitted, they will meet your full demonstrated need. If you require significant aid, it is better to avoid these schools (Unless you decide to ED, which we will cover in the next section!). For domestic students, all of the ivy+ schools (short hand for top colleges and universities) are need blind. This means if you think you have a chance, shoot your shot! Just a single acceptance can be life-changing.
Step 5: Deadlines and Application Rounds
Most public colleges have priority deadlines for merit scholarships and early notifications of admission. In Florida, most schools have a November 1 priority deadline. FSU is a notable exception that has an October 15 priority deadline.
Plan to submit applications to all of your Florida schools and any out-of-state public schools before November 1. This is to secure access to scholarships and also get your decisions earlier (by December or January)!
Shotgunners, Take Note!
If you have identified a high-ranking private school that ideally is need-blind AND meets full demonstrated need, and you would go there in a heartbeat if accepted, consider Early Decision (ED). With ED, you are committing yourself to the school and, if accepted, you must withdraw your other applications and commit to the school (unless their financial aid offer is too little)
The benefit? Have more clarity of your situation AND benefit from higher acceptance rates to selective colleges by applying ED – for example, Columbia University, which has an overall acceptace rate of 5%, sees nearly 20% acceptance rates in the ED round.
If you are deferred or rejected in ED, there are some top schools that offer ED II, which is essentially the same thing as ED but due on January 1. For example, if a student EDs to Columbia, and is deferred, they have time to ED II to Vanderbilt.
If the financial commitment is too much, you can also consider Restrictive Early Action (REA)– a non-binding way to apply to a top school early. Schools that offer REA include Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, among others.
NOTE: You may only ED or REA to one private school (with very few exceptions), but if you are deferred or rejected you can ED II.
Phew! That was a lot of info, and let’s see an example of a typical college application schedule. Consider Jane, a high school senior who is applying to nine colleges through the 3 For 3 method. Her safeties are USF, UNF, and FIU. Her targets are FSU, UF, and U-Connecticut. She has chosen to ED to Brown, and will apply to Johns Hopkins and Harvard if she isn’t accepted.
Her first deadline is October 15 for FSU’s priority deadline. Then, the main deadline is November 1, when her Brown ED application is due, along with priority applications to USF, UNF, FIU, FSU, UF, and UConn. Note that this doesn’t violate the Early Decision agreement since she is only applying early to public schools – however, she CANNOT apply to any other private school yet.
Brown ED comes out Mid-December. If she is accepted, HURRAY! She is committed to attending and must withdraw her other applications. If she is deferred or rejected, she now has until January 1 to put together her applications to her private schools (Johns Hopkins and Harvard).
This means that after January 15th, you are done with applying to colleges! Decisions from schools you applied to by the priority deadline usually roll through in December or January, while schools applied by January 1 will come out in March.
Step 6: LORs and Application Essay
What is a letter of recommendation, and what schools require them? Well, it is a short but sweet letter written by a teacher that you had, research mentor, or other person who can testify to your character, work ethic, etc. But before you go about asking your teachers, please note that most schools in Florida including USF, UCF, UNF, FIU, FAU, FSU, and UF do not require LORs.
For the schools that do require LORs, make sure to invite the teachers on Xello (see the video below) and also follow up with them in-person. Make sure to request them well ahead of the deadline as teachers are quite busy! For the November 1 deadline, you should request them by September 15.
You will, however, need to write at-least one essay for your college applications! Also known as the Personal Statement, this essay will be on Common App, and you will have six prompts to choose from. You have 650 words to tell the admissions officers your story!
Check out our College Essay Guide to see two examples of killer personal statements, along with other general essay advice.
Step 7: FAFSA and CSS Profile
If you are eligible to file FAFSA (check out our Finessing the FAFSA guide!), you need to do so once it opens, usually between October and December. Most schools use FAFSA to evaluate your qualification for both federal grants and institutional aid.
Now, if you are applying to some higher reach schools, such as the ivies, MIT, Johns Hopkins, etc, many of these schools use the College Board’s CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. This is another way for you to report your financial information and submit relevant documents, including any W2 and 1040 forms.
The financial aid deadline at most schools is February 1, meaning you have ample time after submitting your applications to submit the paperwork! However, it is still important to keep this in mind since January of senior year runs by faster than Usain Bolt!
Step 8: Relax, Prepare for Decisions!
Phew! You’ve submitted all your applications – congrats on taking this first step in your journey of higher education! Now all you need to do is kick back and relax as decisions roll in, knowing that no matter what, you are going to college. Now, all that’s left is making the decision of where you will attend! Remember to consider a wide range of factors, including cost, academic life, campus life, food, residential experience, ad so much more. After all, you’re going to be locked in for four years!
Leto Guidance Department 