4 ways to get an early start on your college application

4 ways to get an early start on your college application

 

While it may be too early to actually start filling out or submitting your college applications, there is actually a way to get a head start before your senior year’s start – 

  1. Send in your test scores. You’ve likely already taken the ACT or SAT, so go ahead and send us your scores and we will match them up with your application when you are able to submit it. If you’ve take both exams or if you have take one of them multiple times, go ahead and send all of them. While we don’t super-score, we will use your highest composite score for admission and scholarship criteria.
  2. Request letters of recommendation early. Loyola requires one letter of recommendation from a teach or counselor, someone who knows you academically. Start thinking about who you want to ask – this should be someone who knows you well and someone who will take the time to write you a personal letter. Then go ahead and ask them so they have plenty of time to actually write and send in your letter.  You are welcome to send in more than one letter, just make sure all of your recommenders know you in an unbiased manner. If you are going to send in additional letters consider different teachers, counselors, coaches, supervisors, etc. that know you in a different way from your original recommender.
  3. Work on your college essay. While some schools may give you a question or prompt to respond to, many won’t. Here at Loyola we ask for an optional 500 word essay. This can be an excerpt of a high school assignment, a short story, poetry, a person statement, a story of a significant person or event in your life, or the reasoning behind your interest in Loyola or a particular major. My advice, write your essay and then put it away for a week. Then take it back out to edit it once before having others proofread it for you.
  4. Create your resume. This can be more time-consuming than you might think, so start early. As it’s optional, it doesn’t have to be fancy, so a bulleted-list will work just fine. Make sure you include everything from all 4 years of high school (athletics, clubs/organizations, volunteer work/community service, leadership positions, part-time jobs, music/theater involvement, research, etc.)

Good Luck!

Comments are closed.