At this point during the year, students applying to colleges might have to do a few alumni interviews. These can be stressful, especially when students are trying to balance schoolwork, applications, and extracurricular activities all at one. Thankfully, alumni interviews only count for a tiny portion of a college application. 

Are you applying to college? You’ve got company: millions of high school students want to get into great schools, so it’s important to stand out from the crowd. Thankfully, there are some simple ways to make sure that your college applications are in great shape.

The SAT and ACT, and the test prep associated with both, are integral parts of your college application process. These college admittance exams serve as an objective way for institutions of higher learning to assess students--with so many variables among different schools, regions of the country, and even countries, many colleges simply want a “by-the-numbers” yardstick to compare the applicant pool. And at most colleges and universities, admissions are set up so that students from the same area, state, or region are assessed in the same applicant pool, with the same application readers. This means that, at most (but not all) top-tier universities, New York City (NYC) students will be competing against other NYC students for admittance into that institution. 

For high school juniors and seniors, sending out college applications is the last hurdle before graduation. In order for this important process to go smoothly, students need to make sure that they complete each piece of their college applications in a timely manner: no one wants to sit at home alone during winter break, frantically filling out forms! For students who know that they have difficulty meeting deadlines, it may be worthwhile to consider some kind of application support. Working closely with another person will help keep students on track, especially once college essay deadlines start approaching.

Once you finish tenth grade, the focus of your next two years of high school is college admissions. As the capstone of your academic career, your college years will fun, exciting, and full of new opportunities to enrich yourself academically. Consequently, you should begin preparing for this time of change by the time you begin your junior year of high school. There are many components to the college essay and a complete application; the more you plan ahead, the less stressful the entire process will be!

Every NYC high school student knows how stressful junior and senior year can be.  For the better part of both years, there is a relentless stream of responsibilities. NYC students must bolster their grades, making sure that the transcript sent out with each college application is ready to impress.  Even beyond this final push toward a stellar GPA, the work keeps piling up.  There are essays to write, SAT II subject tests (short standardized tests with a targeted focus) to study for, and the dreaded SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) or ACT (American College Testing Assessment), one of which is necessary for virtually every college application.