When to Start the College Admissions Process

As a parent, you’ve probably wondered at some point in your child’s life: If my child wants to go to college, when do we need to get started? You may have answered yourself with something along the lines of senior year being plenty of time to prepare to apply to college.

My professional opinion is that waiting until senior year to start the college admissions process is like heading to the grocery store an hour before you’re expecting guests to arrive at the dinner party you’re hosting. Will things come together? Probably - it will all work out in the end - but things might be messy, you may not get to every part you want to, and pieces won’t have as much time to be as polished as you’d like.

Starting early is all about options. If your child decides to wait until senior year to start looking into the college admissions process, or months into senior year, choices will be limited. Some colleges have deadlines as early as October of the student’s senior year. Once deadlines pass, the opportunity is up. I highly recommend to students that they have their ducks in a row so they can make the best choices for them when application time comes. If your student has everything ready to go by the time they start senior year - including most, if not all, of their essays! - they will be in the best position possible to apply to colleges.

You might think that starting earlier will add more stress to your child’s life. For some, it might - but starting early allows you and your student to spread out all of the necessary pieces of the college admissions process. The same steps need to be taken regardless if you start in the fall of their junior year or the fall of their senior year. For many students, dabbling in the college admissions process earlier allows them to actually reduce that stress and overwhelm and even keep relationships strong at home! Remember that knowledge is power and the more information you have now, the more you and your child can take control of the process.

Only you and your student can make the decision on when the best time to start is for your student. When you make that choice (or consciously decide to put off that choice) ensure you know what pieces are involved so your family can be as prepared as possible.