Whether you’re jumping right out of high school and into a university or finishing your 2-year degree and transferring into a 4-year institution, you’ll need to get started on applying for the college that you want to go into as soon as possible. Now for those who may be taking advantage of what some universities offer through affiliations with community colleges known as an articulation agreement, you won’t need to worry about this so much; some universities offer “direct access” to students with good standings in affiliated community colleges, so the two institutions handle everything. For everyone else, on the other hand, you have your work cut out for ya:
1. The Application
Now the application form itself is pretty straightforward and self-explanatory. Though what needs to be included with it is your official (meaning signed, stamped, sealed) high school transcript , letters of recommendation, your essay, and anything else that may add to your application. They all don’t need to be sent in at the same time, and in fact, you can just send them the form so that you’re at least in their system, but it’s best if you can get it all in at the same time. Many universities offer ED (Early Decision), so you can submit your application as early as the Fall and get a response by the end of the first half of the school year.
2. The Essay
This is quite possibly the most valuable part of the application. The essay means more than your GPA and SAT score because not only does it say who you are, it also says what you do. If you’re going there to major in civil engineering, they want to see that you’ve gone out and worked on building projects and the sort and that you desire to learn more. Universities have figured it out that despite what your I.Q. may be, if you’re determined to master your trade, you’ll achieve it. As long as you portray that in your essay as concisely as possible, you’ve improved your chances of getting accepted significantly.
3. Letters of Recommendation
For many, it’s easy to default back on your parents for this. Unfortunately, many universities don’t accept parent recommendation, which may be a good limitation anyway. The important thing is to find people in the community that you know well and can write well. You can have them send them out themselves, but it would probably be best that you have them hand the letter to you (signed and sealed) and send it out yourself, just to be sure it gets sent out.
Every university is different and each one requires certain things that others may not. For instance, some universities may even require one of the letters of recommendation to be from a parent Always check to be sure that you have everything that your university requires in order to be considered and be sure to check the specific dates in which your application would be due.
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