Winter is coming, and you know what else is coming? That time of the year when seniors will be applying to colleges, yeah stressful times coming ahead! If you didn’t guess that, then probably you are a freshman or a sophomore. While some students may have been planning for this moment since their junior year, others may not have been. Applying to college is a long, worrying, and a very stressful process. But don’t get scared, after reading those scary words, because students who are just starting to work on their applications still have time to put together a wonderful application with unlimited resources.

The first and the most important step of the application process is making a list of all the colleges that you want to apply to. Putting together a list of colleges can be hard, but there are so many useful resources such as the College Boards website (https://www.collegeboard.org/) which make sure that you have a complete college list which includes safety colleges, match colleges, and reach colleges. Mobile apps such as collegehunch, Niche and YouVisit can also help you in making sure that you have a good understanding of a college that you are applying to, by providing you with features of seeing a college virtually.

Common App is the main application through, through it you apply to the majority of schools. Making an account on common app, and adding all of your colleges, is very important! After making an account, you can start working on your main essay, which you will be submitting to all the colleges by choosing a prompt from the Common Apps website (https://www.commonapp.org/apply/essay-prompts). You want to write about something that really separates you from other candidates. Another necessary step of the college application process is getting 2 strong recommendations from your teachers, and letting your teachers know that you want them to write a recommendation letter. If you did not do this, DO IT RIGHT NOW! It should have been done yesterday!

For additional help, you can reach out to your college counselor, or go to fdrhs.org website and find information about the college process. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. The college application process is absolutely stressful, and it can make you go crazy. Understand, it’s completely normal, so don’t think you are in this alone. You have your friends, teachers, and counselor to go to, whenever, you need help! So! Get up and start working on your college application. Like NOW!