Win the Battle With Procrastination!
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in the college application process is the application itself. You’ve done everything else–the thinking, talking and planning. There is nothing left to do but complete the application! Much as that might seem like a “no-brainer,” when it comes to actually filling out the forms, a lot of students can’t seem to “find the time.” As important as the pending competition for admission might be, there always seems to be a good reason why completing the application is put off to another day.
If you are like many other teenagers, this is a familiar scenario. Procrastination, or the ability to put things off until they really need to be done, is a strategic element of your survival plan, so no worries there. After all, why stress out on a project any more than is necessary especially when you know you can do your best work under pressure? Why should your college applications be any different?
Well, you might consider the consequences. For example, waiting until the application deadline means that you are in a hurry and you are stressed. As a result, you won’t have much patience for questions on the application that require reflective thought. You won’t be as likely to tidy up grammar and spelling-and you certainly won’t be inclined to ask anyone to look over your work.
So, what are you left with? Typos? Grammatical mistakes? Poorly developed ideas? Errors of omission-and the very strong impression that you, the candidate, didn’t care enough to invest time and effort in preparing your application? Remember, to the reader your application is you. Do you want to risk presenting yourself in a bad light that might cause an admission officer to lose interest?
As you prepare your application, then, do the little things well. Be thoughtful in your approach. Invest in yourself. When everything else is equal, you want the reader of your application to come away feeling: “Wow–we need to take this one!” So, take a deep breath and get ready to tackle your applications!
The above is the introduction to Chapter 12 of my book, Winning the College Admission Game entitled, “Time to Apply: Get It Done.” If you find yourself stuck in a rut as application deadlines draw near, check out the book for more tips on how to work through the troublesome and potentially annoying details that might be bogging you down.
Speaking of deadlines, an interesting discussion is taking place on the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) listserve. It seems there is a question as to whether an application needs to be postmarked or actually received by an institution’s posted deadline in order to be considered for admission. The consensus is that the date the application has been postmarked is the one that will be observed by most institutions.
That said, try to work ahead of deadlines by at least a week. In doing so, you accomplish at least two things. One, you put your credentials into the hands of those who must process them ahead of the deluge of paperwork that descends on admission offices at the deadline–it is less likely that things will be lost/misplaced along the way. Two, you give yourself peace of mind knowing that you have completed everything on time.
Note: If you find the information on this blog useful to your college planning process, tell a friend. We’d like to make sure that as many families as possible can take advantage of good advice when it comes to finding and getting into the colleges that fit them best!
And don’t forget to check out the Straight Talk About College Admission teleseminar series. Registration (http://www.TheAdmissionGame.com/members.php) for tomorrow night’s program, “The Biggest Mistakes Made in Applying to College,” closes later this afternoon (10/16/07).
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