Application season has already begun! This will probably one of the most grueling tasks for those who want to go to a 4 year college. There are so many things to keep track of that it is quite easy to get lost. Hopefully the advice that I compiled will help you in starting and finishing your applications!

1. The most important advice I can give is DO NOT PROCRASTINATE:

According to Ron Aspuria, a top ten senior, he states “Applications only feel like a lot until you wait for the last minute. The sooner you start them, the less of a chore it will feel”. UC and CSU applications take a lot of time to do well. There are many parts of the applications that you will want to go back and redo/check multiple times. If you wait until the last minute to this, your application will not appear as good as it can be. If you start now you will have around a month to go back and refine your application over and over.

1. Choose wisely:

It is important to know which school is best for YOU. Don’t aim for schools just because of their title. Do around 5-10 minutes of research to see which school fits your skill set the best. Keep in mind applications to UC’s and CSU’s cost 70 dollars just to apply to one campus. Make each college decision count!

1. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses:

This advice mainly applies to UC applicants, but it is still useful to know regardless. The UC personal insight wants to see your strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has some sort of weakness that they are still being overwhelmed by. Just be honest about it and convey in your personal insights that you are willing to struggle and overcome your weakness.

1. Keep your grades up:

For CSU applicants this especially applies. Since they mainly target grades and test scores, it is important to keep grades up even after application season. Keep in mind that we will still have to send our transcripts near the end of the semester and the end of the school year. If your grades fall this year, colleges do have the right to cancel your admission due to failure to keep up with standards.

1. Ask for help:

If you ask for help the chances of your admission will go up by a lot. After all, there is only so much one mind can do. Ask a parent or older sibling; in most cases, they all want you to succeed. Even if they can not offer you help, you still have many resources here at CI. Pretty much all of the counselors and teachers are willing and here to help as long as you ask. According to a bright senior, Angelo Lozano, he stated, “I was never granted the knowledge of how to get through such a rigorous process. Asking my teachers and Ms. Sanchez for assistance helped me stay on track”. There is no shame in getting help, you want the application to be the best that it can be.

As  seniors scrambling with application season, there is only so much we can possibly know about the application process. Luckily, I was able to interview two current college students (one from UC Davis and one from CSU Channel Islands) to get their advice in this application season.

Although you may have heard these thousands of times, there is a reason why it is repeated constantly. These are all very important when it comes to applying. If an idea is put to the forefront multiple times, it probably means it is important. Even if you aren;t applying to a 4-year, it is still important to keep these in mind. This advice, although geared towards 4-year colleges, can still be used for other life situations. With that being said, I wish all of you applying to a 4-year best of luck for the upcoming fall semester!

I’m not sure if this was the best place to put this part of the story, but I feel as though they deserve their own spot in the story since they were the ones who made it into the college of their choice.