As spring of 2025 is around the corner, college-bound SRHS have finished their college applications and now wait for a decision from colleges on their future. But the process of applying to college itself is an unknown experience for students.
“Growing up, we definitely didn’t need college counselors. It was super easy. You did your application on paper, you paid a small fee, $25 bucks, and you sent it off to like five schools. It’s not like that anymore. It’s very competitive. It’s just so complicated and there’s certain things you should do and certain things you shouldn’t do,” said Ms. Healy, a teacher at SR as well as a parent of two college athletes.
The application process is a little different for everyone, but it mostly consists of elements such as a personal essay, supplemental essays, personal information, your high school transcript, standardized test scores for some schools, letters of recommendation, and a list of extracurricular activities. Students often described applications as lengthy and challenging. “The process itself was a little overwhelming. I just had a lot going on with school and sports, so having to do all of these other things to apply to college was a lot,” said CJ Harter, a senior at SR.
The application process is an unknown experience for many students. “What I constantly talk about is that you’re never done this before. You’re going through this for the first time and you’re probably only going to go through it this time,” said Laura French, a College Counselor from the CCC at SR.
So, what does the actual process look like?
“Getting students to figure out how they learn or what they want out of the college experience and then going from there to choose colleges is the first step,” said Ms. French.
When asked if she had any advice for students starting the application process, Ms. Healy encouraged people to look outside of Marin and California. The UC public school system is one of the best in the country. But, kids often apply to the same six or eight schools; UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Cal, UC Davis, Cal Poly, SDSU, and just hope to get in. “But, there’s so many good schools in this country, and some of them are just one state away, so broaden your horizon, and don’t be afraid to travel if you can afford it,” advised Healy.
In the college process there are different portals to apply through, depending on what schools students decide on. The UC’s are an isolated application, using their own portal and their own style of essays for applicants, but you can apply to all 10 UCs with one application. If students want to apply to a private university, most of the private schools in the country use the Common App portal. There are also a few smaller application sites like the Coalition app that are used for specific schools.
“There’s a lot of pull to stay local. I would say for almost all of our students, if they’re applying to a four year, it’s a CSU or a UC. A much smaller percentage are applying to private schools, maybe 15% are applying to private schools. And then we have a huge percentage of students that will apply to the community colleges,” said Ms. French.
She encourages students to start the process their second semester of junior year. “It takes a lot of time, and a lot of self reflection,” advised Ms. French. The essays you have to write for colleges are unique. It’s a different style of writing compared to what is typically asked of students in an English class. For the Common App Personal Insight Question you are able to choose from six prompts, that all focus on some sort of self reflection. For example, the second prompt is, “The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”
“Starting early definitely helped,” said Harter. “I had a college counselor who helped me out with a lot of them, so I was able to kind of just grind through them all. But, it was difficult to try and convince myself to just do the work because they’re like they’re very daunting when you start [the essays].”
Once you have all of your essays written and personal information uploaded, you can submit your applications to the schools you’ve selected. Each application ranges from $55 to $90. “I think I applied to like 11 schools,” said Harter.
But as a school, we reach a divide.
“At this school, you have two groups, right? You have your four year university bound and you have your community college bound,” said Ms. Healy.
“I didn’t even apply to any colleges,” said Aedon Bardoul, a senior at SR. “I want to be a firefighter so this summer I’m in a program with Marin County fire fighting, and then I’ll probably go to COM or maybe Miramar Community College or Mesa.” The typical path of applying to a four year university isn’t for everyone.
Depending on what type of application you submitted, you should hear back from colleges at different times. The earliest you can hear back from a college is mid to late December if you apply early decision. Early decision is a binding commitment. It is mostly limited to private colleges and universities. If you are accepted to the school you ED to, you usually have to withdraw all of your other applications you’ve submitted to other schools. In general though, most college decisions are released online by email or through an application portal in March or early April for students who apply regular decision.
There is also the question of whether or not to take standardized tests, most commonly the SAT. Since COVID, most schools have adopted a test optional policy, meaning students aren’t required to take the test and submit their scores, but can if they want to. There are, however, some highly competitive schools that still require the submission of an SAT score in your application. Some schools, like the UC’s, are test-blind, meaning they don’t even consider test scores when reviewing an application.
”I took my SAT a couple weeks before an AP test. So I was just studying for so many different things and to take it on a Chromebook is stressful too, because they’re not the fastest, especially with all the kids testing in the same space,” said Harter.
Ms. Healy said, “I think you guys need to do standardized testing. I think the message is, oh, the UCs and the CSUs don’t need it, but what if you decide you wanna go somewhere else? More and more schools are adding it back as a requirement. So, why limit yourself by not doing it? It’s good for you to learn how to do that, because in college, you’re gonna be graded on your tests. You’re gonna be in this pressure environment where you have your time and you’ve gotta do it, and this is a learning experience.”
The application process is about finding yourself and what you want, and then being able to depict that to the admissions officers reading your essays. Ms. French emphasized, “What I want students to do is expose themselves to lots of things and try to figure out what it is they want as opposed to listening to the chatter of friends or your parents,”
