Application Portals

 There are numerous ways to apply to college-Common App, SendEdu, the Coalition, and plain ole' paper applications are just some of the ways. Each college will let you know their preferred method but there are a few things you'll need to be diligent about....

1. Make sure you know the CORRECT email address for recommenders, teachers, and your school counselor. If you don't put in the correct email address-we can't upload any information or recommendation letters for you. 

2. Be kind to your recommenders. Please give your recommenders-teachers, employers, school counselor-as much lead time as you can. We typically ask for 2 weeks notice but if you know sooner, we'd like to know sooner too. 

3. Be mindful of deadlines. If you wait until the last due date to submit your applications the likelihood of everything that can go wrong-going wrong-is more likely. 

Please click on a link below to be redirected to the application portal of your choosing

The Common Application

Examples of schools our students applied to using the common app: George Mason, ODU, Howard, Duke, University of Mary Washington, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Duke, William and Mary, Christopher Newport, Marymount, University of Richmond, Brown             

sendedu

Examples of schools our students applied to using sendedu: Mary Baldwin, North Carolina Central, Hampton, Virginia State, Hampden-Sydney, Radford   

Coalition for College

 Example of schools our students applied to using Coalition: James Madison, University of South Carolina, University of Georgia

STEPS TO TAKE BEFORE STARTING YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATIONS:

1. Check your colleges to make sure you know the requirements for each of the colleges you're interested in. 

What is the application fee?

• Do you qualify for an application fee? See Ms. U our ACCESS advisor for paperwork to detemine fee waiver eligibility. 
• What is the GPA and test score range?
• What is the application process and deadline?
• Is there a personal statement or essay required? 
• Do you need a recommendation? If so, how many? 
• Is there a secondary school report that needs to be filled out by your counselor? 
• Will you apply early decision/early action or regular decision? 
• Is the application deadline different if you're interested in merit scholarships?
• Is the school score optional? And if so, if you apply score optional does that mean you don't qualify for merit based scholarships? 

2. Draft your application essays and/or personal statement. 

3. Prepare your resume or "brag sheet" to share with people who you will be asking to write recommendations for applications and scholarships. 

4. Based on your SAT scores-do you need to retest? 

5. Do you need to take any SAT subject tests? Make sure to double check with your schools to see what standardized tests are required.