Like many parents, and like all college essay advisors, I read admissions blogs, follow college counselors, and deep-dive the college admissions labyrinth, but I may be coming to the exploration a little differently. I’m not overwhelmed by it.
I’m able to keep cool for a couple reasons. My writing training has taught me to excise the extraneous. My teacher training has taught me to simplify. My average intelligence insists I sift then attend to limited input. I can only do so much and I’m good with that.
Common App also knows how to keep it simple. They have streamlined the college application process, created a user-friendly platform, and provided resources to answer frequently asked questions. Consider this introductory video and resource roundup. Imagine if while you read their information, you weren’t simultaneously bombarded with competing ads, tabs, suggested videos, and on and on. Just one simple video and you. What a breeze.
So block out the noise and go to the source. Visit Common App. Feel at ease? Then click Coalition App too. Still relaxed? Go to College Board. Not tapped? Visit FAFSA. Woah, too fast? Then watch this simple video about FAFSA instead. Just keep the search simple. Get your questions answered by people making the decisions.
As you navigate the college admissions landscape, go to the source, at least at first. Start with the organizations in charge, not the thousands of institutions and individuals on the periphery. Keep the search direct. Stay out of the rabbit hole. Maintain your composure.
As time unfolds you’ll read a little here and a little there. (You did find this post.) But you won’t panic like Chicken Little or perseverate like Captain Ahab. You’ll have a foothold, a shield against the swirling pundits, and you’ll coast, more like On the Road or Over the Cuckoo’s Nest than into The Inferno.
The college admissions process is less complicated than you may think, and it’s certainly not beyond you. I’m sure of that. So much of our success, in anything really, is about comfort and confidence. And a simple, direct approach that starts at the source will lead you where you need to go.
Read more tips HERE.
Photo credit: Pierre Châtel-Innocenti
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