It’s Deadline Time, College App Deadline Final Tips

It’s time for college app deadline final tips. You’ve been working on these applications for months. Revising your essays tens of times and scouring every corner of your mind to figure out the right order of your activities can be a stressful experience. Now that it’s almost college app deadline time, I’m sure there are a lot of nerves and jitters before sending in your applications. But guess what? You are so close to the end! For that, you deserve a pat on the back.

After doing all this work, it’s worth it to take a look over just one more time. After all, you don’t want to let all your hard work be undermined by something you accidentally misread or misunderstood. In this article, we’ll talk about some final tips you can employ to maximize your application.

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Academic History

Make sure to report your GPA to as many decimal places as you have on your transcript. If the number of decimal places on the application is less than your transcript, just apply normal rounding rules. For example, if your high school reported GPA is 3.397 and the application takes 2 digits, the GPA you enter will be 3.40.

Next, remember that you typically want to be reporting your weighted GPA (unless it explicitly asks you for your unweighted). Hopefully, the weighted value is higher than your unweighted due to any Honors or AP classes you have taken.

Class ranks are issued by some schools to help you measure your academic standing relative to other people in your class. Some applications ask you for this number. Enter it if you have it, leave it blank if you don’t.

UCs don’t need you to report PE or Health. HOWEVER, Leadership and Religious studies should be included in the “Coursework other than A-G” section.

College App Deadline Quick Tips

If you take any Semester long course, make sure to mark it appropriately. Government and Economics classes are typically misreported.
UCs don’t want you to send your transcript before your applications, so wait before sending them in!
Only include classes take in the start of freshman year and afterwards

Required Documents & Documentation Deadlines

This first tip goes without saying but remember to READ carefully the documentation requirements for the college you’re applying to AS WELL as their due dates. The most notable example is for the UC’s. They require no transcript, and for this application season (Fall 2021 enrollment), no standardized testing. However, it is still best to send an official test score if you have “a good score” relative to your GPA. To do this, just send your score(s) to just one UC directly through College Board or ACT platforms.

Activities & Awards

The activities section carries more weight than you think in the application process. It’s imperative that you maximize it before your college app deadline. First, make sure to check for grammar and then check for it again. You’d be surprised how many applications contain basic grammar errors. Remember, there is a place for just about everything you did outside of the classroom. So if you have any activity not listed – be it self-studying Python to self-learning the guitar – it’s wise to add it if you have the room. If you don’t have any more room for activities, consider using the Additional Comments section.

Essays

This is our most popular line of questioning and that’s why we try to address it as much as possible. Check out our article and video on the UC PIQs and our article and video on acing the college admissions essays. For a bite sized summary, read on. The number one way to check your essays is by asking yourself one simple question. “Do I answer the prompt?” We are sure that you have heard this before from all of your english teachers. Surprise, surprise it is still relevant! If you don’t answer the prompt, it does not matter how eloquent or well illustrated your essay is. It doesn’t count.

Common examples are for UC PIQ #6, which asks for a student’s favorite academic subject, many students respond with a desired career path or profession. Or for UIUC’s supplemental essay asking for recent experiences pertaining to one’s major, many students start talking about experiences that date back to elementary school, or why they’re interested in going to UIUC – both off topic.

College App Deadline Additional Comments

This section is the most underutilized section in the entire application. That makes it very relevant to the people that do use it. For a full discussion on this section, check out this video. To summarize, ask yourself this question. Is there anything else about you that’s not fully and clearly told in the rest of your application? Both the Common App and UC App provide A LOT of space for you to elaborate. Use this section to explain any anomalies in grades, any activities you weren’t able to cover in detail, or other life circumstances that affected your high school experience. It may not seem important, but every bit counts – especially since someone is trying to make an informed decision on the next 4+ years of your life!

I hope that this provides some valuable insight into how to quality check your applications before submitting. For a full feature and even more detail, check out our YouTube video about it.

We specialize in youth mentorship and college counseling. From 8th grade to 12th, we have you covered for any stage in your high school career. Schedule a free consultation with us here.

We are always posting more helpful tips and tricks to help reduce the stress of college application season. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

See you soon!

Sarah Gooch

Essay Editor

Q:How many total years of experience do you have in your current role, including but not limited to ReadyEdgeGo?

A: I have five years' experience in coaching student writing, but this is my first year with ReadyEdgeGo.

Q: What about working with students do you most enjoy?

A: I love helping students find depth and meaning in their own stories—but I also just love it when they make me laugh!

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: In theory, I enjoy painting and writing poetry, but these days I actually spend most of my free time socializing or watching movies with my husband.

Q: What is your one piece of advice for high schoolers?

A: Don't just focus on achieving top grades and credentials because they look good on applications, or your education will be meaningless. The numbers and awards have their place, but stay connected to your sense of curiosity, discovery, excitement, and wonder so that the content you're learning is constantly transforming you—it's something you care about, something you remember after the final exam. Work on the aspects of yourself no one can measure, like integrity, wisdom, kindness, and compassion, so that you're not only developing your academic and career potential but also investing in the type of adult you're going to be, the person you'll have to live with after you clock out every day for the rest of your life.

Doing the hard inner work of building your character and learning deeply instead of just earning grades will set you up for a satisfying, well-rounded life. Strange as it sounds, it will also put you ahead in your academic and career goals, because colleges and hiring managers aren't looking for an empty set of data on a spreadsheet; they want a fully fleshed-out person marked by passion, creativity, and a story no one else has lived.

So go on studying hard for tests, but also spend some time asking yourself what matters in life and who your role models are. Read up on topics that amaze you, and build something incredible just for fun. Cultivate that spark of joy you feel when you're immersed in a subject that fascinates you. If you can hit that balancing act of doing your homework and meeting deadlines but also investing in the kind of person you want to be, then trust that all the rest will follow: schools will recognize you as a dynamic, all-star person, and you will also build a life of happiness, close relationships, and peace.

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