Early Look at College Application Forms

It is a good idea to have an early look at the application forms of the colleges that your children might be interested in.  It can be a big surprise if you look at the application forms just before applying to the colleges.  These forms ask about things that you may have never thought about.  Let’s have a closer look at Harvard’s forms, for example.

From their web site, you can download 6 PDF files.  In addition to the common application form, there are online supplements, school report, teacher evaluation, mid-year report and, of course, welcome instructions.  If you look at the teacher evaluation form, you will get a glimpse of how teachers will evaluate your children.  In other forms, they ask about summer experiences, any summer schools, awards and so on.

As some professional admissions advisors recommend, if you want to put your children’s case together and present it in a way that will make your children stand out from the rest, you should look at the application forms early, even before the 9th grade.  You can “reverse engineer,” if you will, and have your children do activities that will allow them to fill in all the blanks in application forms and leave nothing to be desired. 

However, do not try to fit your children into the type of people colleges look for.  After reading and studying about college applications, I learned that you should do things that are enjoyable and be successful at doing them.  Then, the good colleges will want you to come.  So, take a look at the application forms early and keep your children busy.  It will keep them busy and keep them out of trouble, at least.

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