Last year, over 2,500 panicked seniors arrived at our blog on December 30 as they raced to finish their applications before closing deadlines. If you're one of those last-minute college applicants this year, here are five tips to help you channel that stress and power through.
1. Don't beat yourself up.
Yes, you should have finished your college applications by now. No, you shouldn't have waited until the last minute. But beating yourself up about it isn't going to make your applications any stronger. Second-guessing the choices you've made is the worst thing you can do to yourself when you're applying to college, especially now that the deadlines are so close. This is the time to be confident and proud of everything you've done right. Lots of successful people have put things off until the last minute and still accomplished what they set out to do. Now is the time to be one of those people.
2. Say less.
Some stressed applicants respond by trying to pack even more information onto the application. They list activities that they barely remember and awards that mean much less to them then other accolades they've earned. But sharing more just makes more work for yourself, more reading for admissions officers, and less a less compelling application. So say less. Focus your activities and awards to include only those things that really meant something to you. When you're writing an essay about an experience, don't jam in deep meaning that wasn't there just to make the essay longer. Be clear and concise.
3. Channel your stress into honest answers.
We've all seen movies where a tough detective gets a perpetrator to crack under the stress of questioning and just tell the truth. You can use the stress of applications to do the same thing with your essays. Before you start writing, just read the prompt and blurt out your honest answer, one that you'd only share with yourself. If you were about to start the "What makes Stanford a great place for you?" question, you might blurt out, "I have no idea. I spent so much time researching and visiting colleges that they all sound the same to me at this point." Guess what? That's not a bad start to an essay. Really, it is. It's not ideal, but it's better than launching into an essay of generalities.
Honesty separates you from the other applicants who polished and re-polished their answers based on what they thought sounded impressive. So before you write, do some blurting and see where that stress takes you.
4. Remember that one error won't ruin you.
No, I don't advocate making careless errors in your application. But it's important to understand that colleges aren't grading your application like an English teacher grades an essay. No college in the universe will conclude that you are, in fact, a stupid person if you make one small typo (unless you spell the school's name wrong–oof). Yes, proofread. And have someone else proofread, too. But at some point, you have to make peace with the fact that you can only review an application so many times before it's time to hit the "Submit" button.
5. Don't worry.
Seriously, don't worry. The process can feel like a life or death trial, but it's not. For all the drama you have to contend with during the college application process, almost everyone gets in somewhere and ends up loving college. If you keep that in mind while you're finishing your applications, you'll be more focused and more confident. And you'll do a better job.