It’s that time of year again: summer is over, classes are in session, and high school seniors are filled with dread. Yes, it’s college application season. Many college admissions requirements these days include striking a delicate balance between highlighting personal and academic accomplishments, outlining future interests and aspirations, and painting a picture of who you want to be.
The prospect of documenting an entire high school career while selling your personality can be daunting. It’s natural for aspiring undergrads — and their parents — to feel overwhelmed. But you can manage it, whether you’re applying to five schools or 15.
Vox’s Guide to College Application Season
College essays admissions officers really want to read
You entered college. How would you pay for it?
I spoke with people who know best how high-stakes it can feel: seven current college students who have successfully navigated the process for themselves. Here, they offer their best advice on staying organized, mitigating anxiety, and the mistakes they want to avoid.
Responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
“At first, I only applied to one school and then got on the waiting list. I ended up applying more after that. I wasn’t really thinking about college as much as I should have, and I died at this one school. I just assumed the application process and acceptance would be much easier than it is. I put all my eggs in one basket. I was so overwhelmed and I wanted to get the application out. I wish I had applied to more schools from the start. I wish I had relied more on other people’s support and help, such as my school counselors and friends who had already applied to college and been accepted.”
—Alani Sage, 19. Applied to five schools, accepted to four, waitlisted to one. Now attends the University of Alabama.
Believe that you can turn heartbreak around
“I was one of those students who didn’t get into the dream school, and you think it’s the end of the world, like you have no hope. But now when I look back, I honestly think that everything happens, it’s for a reason. For. You will thank yourself if you adapt and accept things. I feel that this experience was better for me, more mature, more independent.
—Amna Ahmed, 19. Applied to 22 schools, accepted to 10, waitlisted to six. Now attends Wake Forest University.
Use social media (but don’t let that discourage you)
“Reddit is a great resource. Subreddits R/College Result And r/ChanceMe It’s a great resource because people post their admissions profiles and you can see what their curriculum was and you know what they did to get into X school. r/ChanceMe, you post your own application and people say if they think you’re going to get in or not.
“Create a story for yourself that is so authentic and unique to you that anyone reading it will think, ‘That’s you.'”
Take what people say about your application with a grain of salt, because at the end of the day, they’re not admissions officers. It’s okay to compare yourself and your application to other people, but it’s not the end all. Use it as motivation but don’t think, ‘This person is better than me. I’ll never get the chance.’
—Dylan Ott, 18. Applied to 15 schools, accepted through early decision to University of Pennsylvania.
Focus on authenticity
“College applications are very difficult if you haven’t heard advice before or if you don’t have other family members who have gone through them. I struggled a lot, because my family is from India, and they weren’t used to the American college admissions process. For example, many of my peers could afford college counselors while my family didn’t know what they were.
I struggled with selling myself and how to tell my story in a way that was unique to me, because from a very young age, I felt pressured to try to be like those around me. Whenever I wrote my essay, I tried to frame myself as someone who had this background that my peers did, even though I didn’t. Create a story for yourself that is so authentic and unique to you that anyone reading it will feel, ‘This is you.’ Choose an angle about yourself to go with. For me, I talked about my self-growth and development, from being quite shy to being super confident, starting a TikTok and being in controversy.”
— Tanu Tripathi, 20. Applied to 11 schools, accepted to six. Now studying at the University of Texas.
Just keep writing
“I spent a lot of time tracing my story and writing my life, asking my parents about things from my childhood that I didn’t think I could connect to at the moment. It was me putting so much of my life on the page, and then rewriting it and rewriting it and rewriting it for a long time.
Those 250-word blurb answers were the hardest for me. I first wrote about all my interests and then looked at what matched the essay questions for each school. Then you can edit them and change it to match, so you’re not really writing as much essay as you want to write. In all, there were over 50 essays for every single school. But I haven’t written 50 essays. Many of these were reused and many were 150-words For these questions, I always try to answer them very creatively and in a way that most people don’t just show another side of themselves.”
—Jeremy Xiao, 21. Applied to 11 schools, accepted to six, waitlisted to two. Now studying at Stanford University.
Stay organized and have an emotional outlet
“I’ve figured out an organization system that works for me. Creating a drive on Google was huge. I called it ‘college’. Within that drive were various folders for my scholarship, supplemental essays, and then my general apps. Once you have those folders, create a giant spreadsheet of all the colleges you’re going to apply to. Divide your spreadsheet into three different sections: early action, a November 30 or December 1 deadline, and then your regular decision colleges. Having everything in one place helped a lot.
Everyone is going through this at the same time, and talking to your friends and family throughout the process is really important for your mental health. Make sure you don’t keep all the stress and all the overwhelming feelings inside you. Make sure you don’t talk crap to your friends, talk to your mom. Figuring it all out will usually help you a lot in the long run.”
—Chahat Kapoor, 20. Applied to 15 schools, accepted to nine, waitlisted at two. Now at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Highlight the commonality in all your actions
“I talked to many of my admissions officers and interviewers after I got into these schools, and they told me that what stood out about my profile was so clear what kind of student I was going to be. All my activities, my awards, my essays, even my curriculum, have touched on the value of my leadership and community service, especially in the health field. When I started thinking about college my junior year of high school, I sat down and I wrote down all of my coursework and all of my awards, and I saw that everything I did was involved in the health field and I had a lot of leadership positions, so naturally I had my It becomes what I present in the profile.”
—Olivia Zhang, 19. Applied to 26 schools, accepted to 20, waitlisted at two. Now studying at Harvard University.
