29/03/2024

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College Admissions: The Basics

College Admissions: The Basics

College admissions are not to be taken lightly by any aspirant. Since college admissions are kicking in, many prospective college students are searching for the perfect college that will match their personalities. We will discuss what are the basics that you need to know and the facts that should be taken into consideration before applying for that college or university that you want.

Choosing a college. Choosing the perfect college or university is like finding a place that you belong. You should consider details that needs to match what you want and what is favorable to you. Taking the time to check about a college’s size, reputation, programs, and location can save you time and inconveniences. Be sure that whatever college you choose, it will jive with your personality, interests and skills.

There are about 1,635 colleges and universities with profiles that you can check. These college profiles include the college’s information on average SAT scores accepted, acceptance rates, college costs, enrollment numbers, financial aid information, college descriptions, photos and other useful details.

Try to check as well for college rankings. Learn how schools compare to one another. Check out the rankings of the best colleges, technical schools and state colleges. Be familiar as well with their programs that might lend a hand.

Timeline. As part of the planning for college admissions, a timeline should be set in advance. Knowing important deadlines for SATs, ACTs, and college admissions is a good practice. There are two major factors that might affect your college admission. Early Decision and Early action.

Early Decision is an accelerated college admission process in which students must complete in November. Commonly, students will receive a decision from the college or university before the end of the year. Some benefits of the Early Decision process is that it has a higher acceptance rate than regular college admissions, students who aren’t accepted early still has an equal consideration with the regular applicant pool, students who are accepted early doesn’t have to stress more about getting into college months before most applicants. However, this process is binding. If admitted or accepted, students must attend the school or else lose the enrollment deposit. The applicant can only apply to one college early, although additional application for regular college admissions are allowed, and lastly, a student accepted early must attend the college before receiving a financial aid package.

As for the Early Action process, which has a more attractive option than the Early Decision, the acceptance rate is higher at many colleges for early Action than regular college admissions. Students who aren’t accepted early can still be considered with the regular admission pool, the process is not binding-so the students can apply to other colleges, even apply early if they prefer. Students will also receive an early notification of acceptance but doesn’t need to make a decision yet until the May 1 usual deadline. If accepted, the spring of the senior year will be less stressful, making it an advantage for the student. Also, even if accepted with this process, the student can go to a different college, wherever he chooses, with no penalty.

As outlined above, the Early action process gives more benefits to students than to colleges. That is the main reason why more colleges offer early decision than early action.

So after deciding on what process to go with, applicants can now lessen the stress and focus more on the other things to come. Some colleges require entrance exams. Others are not too keen with SAT or PSAT. So if you got a low SAT or PSAT score, colleges that doesn’t require these scores can certainly help you out. There are about 815 four-year colleges that do not require them. Admissions Policies frequently change though, so be sure to check with each school the latest testing guidelines. Also, know that some schools are test-optional only for students with a certain GPA or class rank requirements.