- 5 months ago
- #education
The college admissions process can be overwhelming. In this video, I break down the process and cover every single stage from creating your college list to submitting your application.
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00:00Back in high school, I spent months trying to understand the college admissions process.
00:04I would scour online forums, I would watch videos, I would email my guidance counselor,
00:09I would even read books. And the truth is, a lot of the best information about college
00:13applications is scattered all across the internet. It was very hard to find one source that broke
00:18down the process in enough detail. Well, lucky for you, that's why I'm making this video today.
00:23We're going to cover how to actually apply to college. We're going to break down six main
00:28stages, creating your college list, starting your actual application, writing college essays,
00:33getting letters of rec, applying for financial aid, and then finally submitting your application.
00:38So let's dive right in. The first part of the college application process is building your
00:43college list. And you generally want to do this the summer before your senior year or even the
00:48spring of your junior year. So the US has over 4,000 colleges. And the purpose of this stage is
00:54to find the few colleges that are the best fit for you. So now you might be wondering,
00:58Gohar, how many colleges should I actually apply to? You're going to get a variety of answers,
01:02but I think the safe ballpark is anywhere between 6 to 12 schools. And you want to split up your
01:08college list into three buckets. You want safety schools, match schools, and reach schools.
01:13Now the reason you want these three buckets is because you want to make sure that you're applying
01:17to some schools that you know you have a good chance of getting into. You don't want to be the one kid
01:21that applies to every single school in the top 20 and nothing else and gets rejected from everywhere.
01:27Trust me, I have seen this happen a few times. So safety schools are colleges where your academic
01:32credentials, namely your GPA, SAT, or ACT score, fall well above the 75th percentile. Match schools are
01:40colleges where your academic credentials fall within the middle 50th percentile. And reach schools are
01:45schools where your academic credentials fall below the 25th percentile. Now before you go ahead and call
01:50Harvard to safety because you have a 1600 on your SAT, I do want to add one caveat. Every single Ivy
01:57League school is a reach school no matter what grades you have. For the Ivy League and honestly every
02:02school in the top 20, your grades and academic credentials are just the threshold to being
02:07considered. It's your extracurriculars, letters of rec, essays, and awards that'll actually get you
02:12into these schools. The top 20 schools are reaches for everyone no matter your grades or accomplishments.
02:18Okay so now let's break down the numbers. Ideally you want around 3 safeties, 4-5 matches, and around
02:242-3 reaches. Now I'll be honest, this is the standard breakdown that most consultants or even your
02:29guidance counselor will give you. But I'm going to let you in on a little unfortunate secret. Many
02:35students, especially those with top grades, apply to way more than just 2-3 reaches. In recent years
02:42there's been a phenomenon called shotgunning where many top students will apply to almost every single
02:47Ivy League school or a bunch of schools in the top 20. These students care much more about prestige
02:52than about whether or not a certain school is the right fit for them, and so that's why they'll just
02:56apply to every prestigious school they can think of. Now should you do this? Well, it's up to you.
03:02I'm not going to sit here and tell you to not do it because I would be a hypocrite. Back in high
03:06school I was that kid who applied to a bunch of Ivy League schools, and I'll be honest, I wasn't just
03:11chasing the prestige. Top schools, and especially Ivy League schools, have great financial aid programs,
03:17and I knew that I really wanted to benefit from one of them. Alright, so now that we've broken down
03:21what the composition of your college list should look like, let's go ahead and talk about the
03:24different factors that you should consider when deciding which colleges to apply to.
03:28So there are a bunch of variables that come into play here, and I'll go ahead and break each of
03:33them down briefly. You have things like location, extracurricular opportunities, majors and minors
03:38offered. Cost, climate, and so much more. I highly recommend that you pull out a sheet of paper and
03:44write down the criteria that you're looking for in the colleges that you're applying to. And if
03:48you're too lazy to do that, don't worry, I have a worksheet in the description of this video.
03:52So first and foremost, you want to consider the size of the college. Large colleges will have more
03:57academic and extracurricular opportunities, but these colleges might feel a bit impersonal and a bit
04:02too overwhelming for some students. Smaller colleges, on the other hand, might be limited in the amount of
04:07clubs or programs or majors that they offer, but you will get more of that tight-knit and cozy college
04:13experience. What you want is totally up to you. Personally, I didn't want to go to too small of a
04:18college, so I was opting for something more medium-sized or larger. Now besides the physical size of the
04:24college and the number of students at the school, you also want to consider class size. You want to see
04:29whether the college offers more lecture-style classes with hundreds of students or more seminar-style
04:34classes with just a few dozen. With lecture-style classes, you'll have way less access to your
04:39professors, and your learning will be a lot more self-directed. On the other hand, seminar-style
04:44classes are a lot more intimate and hands-on, and they'll give you a lot more access to your professors.
04:49Now the reality is, a lot of colleges have a mix of both of these, but it does help to look into
04:54whether or not a certain school leans one way or the other. A statistic I highly recommend you look up
04:59is the student-to-faculty ratio. Okay, so the second thing that you want to consider is location.
05:04Now there are a couple variables when it comes to location. You want to consider urban versus rural,
05:09distance from home, and climate. Urban college campuses will give you more opportunities,
05:14particularly when it comes to jobs or internships. For example, if you're interviewing for internships
05:19during the school year, you might be able to do in-person interviews or even stop by the various
05:24offices. A more suburban or rural college campus will not give you this privilege. But to be honest,
05:29that's not too big of a deal because you could simply work a remote internship or do remote
05:33interviews. So I think the main factor that you want to consider is that urban college campuses
05:37tend to be more lively and fun, in my opinion. If you want lots of people around you, if you want
05:43some sightseeing opportunities, if you want nice restaurants or food options, then an urban college
05:48campus will definitely give you that, whereas a rural one might not. However, I do think rural college
05:54campuses are great for certain types of students. For example, if you enjoy nature or if you want
05:58something more peaceful and quiet, then by all means opt for these more peaceful environments.
06:03And when it comes to location, you also want to consider distance from home. If you live on the
06:07east coast, but you go to college on the west coast, chances are you will only see your family
06:11on the holidays. Whereas if you go to college within the same state, you might see your family
06:15once a month or even once a week. Trust me, there are quite a few freshmen that visit home pretty
06:20often. And of course, the most important variable that you want to consider when it comes to location
06:24is climate. Just a fair warning, all the ivies are located in the northeast, so be ready for some
06:30frigid winters. Back when I was in college, I will never forget this one time I went out to get dinner
06:35with my friends, and I honestly thought my face was going to freeze and fall off. December in Boston
06:41is not a good time. Now the next variable that you want to consider is the available programs.
06:46You want to look deep into the different majors and minors certain colleges offer. For example,
06:50if you're really into cyber security or biotechnology, not every school offers programs
06:55in those fields. So dig deep, do your research, and make sure you're applying to schools that
07:00actually will teach you the things you want to learn. And then another variable you want to consider is
07:05the flexibility of the curriculum. Some colleges have a required set of core classes that you will
07:09have to take no matter what, whereas other colleges will give you the opportunity to sort of craft your
07:14own curriculum. One example that comes to mind is Brown's Open Curriculum, which is very flexible
07:19and let students craft their own academic journeys. And then of course, you also want to consider the
07:24reputation of the programs at the school. If you want to go into fields like finance or consulting,
07:29the reputation of not only the program, but also the school matters a lot. Whereas if you want to go
07:34into a field like tech, the reputation of your school doesn't matter as much. Tech companies will pay
07:39more attention to your actual skills and the projects you've completed. All right, the next variable
07:43you want to consider is campus culture. Now the culture of a college campus is heavily influenced
07:48by the diversity of the student body. Not only in terms of ethnicity or race, but also in terms of
07:53academic interest, in terms of political ideology, and a handful of other variables. So make sure
07:58you're going to a school whose culture aligns with your values. Now you also want to consider things like
08:03the social scene or traditions. One thing that I would do a lot in high school is I would just watch
08:07vlogs about certain colleges just to get a sense of what the students were like. And let me tell you
08:12right now, if you are considering MIT, we have a fantastic hacker culture. Essentially, it's pretty much
08:17tradition at MIT for students to pull off different hacks throughout the school year. In years past,
08:22students have put Captain America's shield on the dome, they've put an ambulance on the dome,
08:26they've put R2-D2 on the dome. As you can tell, MIT students love to put things on top of the dome.
08:32So yeah, I recommend that you look into these sorts of cultures and traditions at different schools and
08:36see which ones vibe with you. And one last but very important element of campus culture is
08:40residential life. Be sure to look into the dorms that are offered at the schools you're interested in
08:44and look into the sort of housing slash residential system they have. Harvard, for example, has all
08:49students living pretty close to each other freshman year. They all live in dorms that are adjacent to
08:54the Harvard Yard, but in later years they go off into their own housing units. Alright, we're almost
08:58done here. I know we're going through a bunch of different variables right now, but the next thing
09:02that you want to consider are the extracurricular opportunities offered at the school. Look into the
09:07sports that are offered, look into the different clubs and organizations, look into any internship or co-op or
09:12study abroad programs. Your college experience is not just going to be defined by the classes you
09:17take and the things you learn, but also by the people that you meet and the circumstances that
09:22you meet them in. If you're super into competitive programming, maybe you want to see if the school
09:26has a competitive programming club. If you're really into recreational sports, well, that's an
09:30important thing to look into. On the bright side, I find that most colleges offer dozens, if not hundreds
09:36of different clubs and extracurricular opportunities. And if you don't find the exact opportunity that you
09:41want, a lot of these schools will let you start it yourself. Okay, and finally, one of the most
09:45important variables that you should consider when applying to college is cost. For every school that
09:50you're considering, I recommend searching up its name followed by net price calculator on Google.
09:55Look at redirected to a link where you'll be able to input your family's financial information
09:59and get an estimate for the amount of financial aid that you might receive. These numbers are not going
10:04to be 100% accurate, but they'll give you a pretty good idea of what your family might have to pay
10:09out of pocket. And as you're considering cost, I also want you to consider if the school offers any
10:13merit-based scholarships or has need-based aid. A merit-based scholarship is essentially money that
10:18a school will throw at you for having a certain GPA, SAT score, or ACT score. Need-based aid is a
10:24financial aid that a school will give you based on the income level of your family. And just a heads up,
10:30the Ivy League offers fantastic need-based aid, even for international students. And as you're crunching
10:35the numbers for these different schools, I also recommend that you calculate the ROI or the return
10:40on investment of the different schools you're considering. Look at your expected cost, look at
10:44the expected salary of the degree that you want to major in, and see if you think going to that
10:49college and pursuing that certain degree is a worthwhile investment on your money. I'll provide
10:53a worksheet that you can use to calculate ROI in the description of this video. Alright, so now that
10:57you've written down and understand the different things that you're looking for in colleges,
11:01it's time to actually start finding different colleges that meet these criteria. Now you can use
11:05a bunch of different tools to search for colleges, but before I dive into any of them,
11:09I highly recommend that you go to Google Drive and create a sheet to keep track of all the schools
11:14you're interested in. Now if you're too lazy to go ahead and make this table yourself, once again
11:19I have a template in the description of this video. Okay, so one of my favorite tools for finding colleges
11:23is College Board's College Search. So if you go ahead and Google College Board College Search,
11:28you'll see a page like this, and you can search for colleges based on many different variables,
11:32for example, location, majors, type, campus life, and so on. But of course, this isn't the only tool
11:38that you have to use. You can also attend college fairs, talk to your guidance counselor, you can talk
11:43to friends and family members about schools they would recommend for you, and you can even talk to
11:47my team over at NextAdmin. You can book a consultation call with one of our consultants,
11:52and they would be happy to help you find different colleges. Okay, so as you're building out this table
11:56of different colleges and keeping track of variables like cost, location, majors, extracurriculars,
12:02and so on, you should also identify the requirements for each of these schools. Look into whether or
12:07not the school requires you to take the SAT or the ACT. Figure out whether the school recommends you
12:12take a specific high school curriculum. For example, if you search up a school's name followed by
12:16recommended high school courses, you'll usually find a webpage that lists the classes the college
12:21expects you to take during your four years in high school. For example, on this webpage on Harvard's
12:25website, they recommend that you take four years of math courses in high school. And then on top of
12:29course requirements, you also want to see if the school has any supplemental essays, allows you to
12:34submit a portfolio, or requires you to submit something special. For example, Princeton requires
12:39students to submit a graded English paper. Dartmouth highly recommends that students submit a peer
12:44recommendation. Different schools have different requirements, so just make sure you're keeping
12:47track of them in your table. Oh, and by the way, if you want to learn about these supplemental essays for
12:52the IVs and want to understand how to answer them, check out the articles I've linked in the description
12:56of this video. Okay, so now you should have a table with a bunch of different colleges and a lot of
13:00information. It's time to narrow your college list. Now you can do this in a variety of ways, but I highly
13:06recommend that you consider visiting the schools or attending virtual info sessions or tours. And as you're
13:11doing all of this, make sure that you're taking as many notes as you possibly can so you can narrow down
13:16your college list. Finally, once you have your narrowed list, you want to figure out if you want
13:21to apply early anywhere. So most colleges have two deadlines. They have an early deadline and a
13:26regular deadline. The early deadline is usually November 1st, and the regular deadline is usually
13:31around January 1st. Now applying early comes with a handful of advantages. The biggest one being that
13:36you can end the college admissions process pretty early. If you get into your dream school mid-December,
13:41congrats, you don't really have to worry about your regular decision applications. But on top of that,
13:46applying early also shows the college that you're particularly interested in attending,
13:50which might give you a slight admissions boost. The extent of this boost, even if there is one at
13:55all, is usually highly debated. But for most schools, I think it's safe to assume that it helps just a
14:00little bit. Okay, so when it comes to applying early, you have three different kinds of early
14:04applications. You have early action, early decision, and restrictive early action. So the main difference
14:11between early action and early decision is that early action is non-binding, whereas early
14:16decision is binding. In other words, if you get in through an early decision program, you are required
14:21to go to that school. On the other hand, if you get in through an early action program, you can still
14:26choose whether or not you want to go to that school. And restrictive early action is just a weirder
14:30version of early action. Essentially, restrictive early action prevents you from applying early to
14:35multiple schools at once. For example, if you apply early to Harvard, you can't also apply early
14:40to Princeton and Yale. But the vast majority of schools don't have restrictive early action,
14:44so you probably don't have to worry about it too much. And just a quick side note, if you're planning
14:49to apply early to a school and want to submit your test scores, I recommend wrapping up your SATs and
14:54your ACTs the summer before senior year. And with all of that, we have wrapped up the first part of this
14:58video, which is building your college list. The next part of the college application process is
15:03starting your actual application. Now generally, you'll do this in August when all the college
15:07applications open up. And before you go ahead and start working on your actual applications,
15:12I highly recommend that you create a separate email address for everything college admissions
15:16related. During the college application process, you're going to get a ton of messages from the
15:20Common App from different colleges and other sources. And ultimately, you don't want these important
15:25messages getting lost or mixed up in your current inbox. So when you're applying to college,
15:29you can apply through several different platforms. You have the Common Application,
15:33the Coalition Application, and you have QuestBridge. There are some other options as well,
15:37but these are the three most popular ones. QuestBridge is mainly targeted towards low-income
15:41students, but it is a fantastic program that I highly recommend students look into. And when it
15:46comes to the Common App versus the Coalition App, the Common App is a lot more popular, and chances are
15:51that 99% of you watching are going to apply through the Common App. So let's take a quick tour of the
15:56Common App and see how you actually fill out your college application. So if you go to commonapp.org,
16:01you'll see a page that looks like this. I recommend that you click on Create an Account and start
16:05your account as early as possible. Chances are most of you want to click on First Year Student
16:09and then just go through the normal registration process. But since I already have a dummy account,
16:14let me go ahead and log in and show you what this looks like. So when you log into the Common App,
16:18this is what you'll see. You'll see a dashboard that lists all the colleges that you're applying to.
16:22You'll see a My Colleges tab, a Common App tab, a College Search tab, and then a Financial Aid tab.
16:27So pretty much all the work is going to happen between these two tabs, My Colleges and the Common App.
16:31So within the My Colleges tab is where you're going to write all of your supplemental essays
16:35and answer any college-specific questions. For example, this right here is a supplemental
16:39essay for Brown, 200 to 250 words, and you can write it right here in this box.
16:44But I highly recommend you don't do this right away. I recommend that you create a separate
16:49Google Doc that has all of your supplemental essays and activity descriptions. Once you have
16:54finished your essays in the separate document and once you're happy with them, copy them over to
16:58the Common App application so you can submit. Yes, the Common App does save your answers,
17:02but I think you're much safer just writing everything in a separate doc. Okay, and then
17:06under the Common App tab is where you'll have all of your general questions about you, your family,
17:10education, testing, and so on. And it's in this tab that you will write your activity descriptions
17:15and your Common App essay. Once again, save everything in a separate Google Doc first.
17:21Now there is a special part of the Common Application that I want to highlight. So if you go to the
17:25Common App tab and go to the writing section and scroll all the way down, you will see a box
17:29titled Additional Information. Now many people recommend that you don't write too much in the
17:33Additional Information section, and I agree, but I think this is a fantastic spot to tell admissions
17:38officers about any extenuating circumstances, forced conflicts, special classes you've taken,
17:43and so on. Back when I was applying to college, I even used this to list some additional awards and
17:48activities I wasn't able to list on my main application. But above all else, I kept this section
17:53very short and concise. Okay, so now here's one of the harsh realities of the college application
17:58process. Submitting applications costs money. Nowadays, the average college application costs
18:04anywhere between $50 to $80 to submit, and if you're applying to 10 plus schools, the cost can rack up
18:09pretty quickly. Well, fortunately, the Common App offers something called the Common App Fee Waiver,
18:14which might let you apply to college for free. I highly recommend that you search up Common App Fee
18:19Waiver, click on the first result, and then you'll see the eligibility requirements for getting a
18:23Common App Fee Waiver. And this page also has more information about how to get your fee waiver,
18:27whether international students are eligible, and what you should do if you don't meet the
18:31fee waiver criteria. Okay, so now let's move on to part three of today's video, College Essays.
18:37College essays are one of the most important parts of your college application because they are where
18:41your voice shines through. Every other part of your college application is more numbers-based or is
18:46pretty objective. For example, your test scores, your transcript, your GPA. These don't really give
18:51a sense of your personality and character. And ultimately, as admissions officers are building
18:55their classes, they want to understand the kinds of students they're accepting. So imagine your college
19:00essay as the one opportunity you have to sit in front of your admissions officer and tell your story.
19:06So the reality is there are different kinds of college essays you will have to write during the
19:09process. You have the personal statement, and then you have supplemental essays. The personal
19:14statement is a college essay that will go to all the schools that you're applying to. You may also
19:18hear me and others refer to it as the Common App Essay. Supplemental essays, on the other hand,
19:23are school-specific essays that you will have to submit for each individual college. The reality is the
19:29college essay process is very nuanced, and I can make over a dozen videos just about college essays.
19:35And that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm soon launching something called the College Essay Bootcamp
19:39that'll take you from start to finish on your college essay. But I will go ahead and give you my
19:43high-level pieces of advice for the college essay. Tip number one, which you have probably heard
19:48thousands of times already, is show, don't tell. The college essay is ultimately a story where you are
19:54the main character. You don't just want to tell admissions officers I'm hardworking or I like
19:58computer science. You want to tell an evocative and immersive story that engages the admissions
20:03officer. For example, instead of just saying that you love computer science, maybe you can write about the
20:08experience of building an app from scratch. And as you're telling the story, you want to make sure that
20:13you're getting conversational. The college essay is not a research paper. It's not some formal piece
20:17of writing. You can use contractions and you should feel free to adapt or relax tone. Next, make sure
20:23you don't rehash your resume. The college essay is not a place to tell the admissions officer about all
20:28your accomplishments. That's what your activities list and your honors list is for. The point of the
20:32college essay is to convey your character, worldview, and values to the admissions officer. So focus just on
20:38one of your interests or one of your experiences that can convey something like leadership or
20:43intellectual curiosity. It also helps to ask yourself, so what, as you're writing your essay?
20:47For example, if you tell a story about building an app, so what? Why should an admissions officer
20:52accept you? Does the admissions officer believe you're going to come to their campus and make strides
20:56in their computer science department? Do they believe you might go on to find a very successful
21:00startup one day? It helps to think about how the reader of your essay perceives you and your
21:05potential. And so that's why it's also very important to get feedback on your college essay. Ask your
21:10English teacher, ask your guidance counselor, and maybe even ask a friend or a family member. But chances
21:15are they might not give you super detailed line-by-line advice. They might just say, oh yeah, this is a good
21:20essay. You should submit it. Or maybe they'll say, oh, this doesn't sound like you and you should try
21:24something else. So if you want very detailed line-by-line feedback, edits, and an overall review of your
21:30college essay, check out NextAdmit's essay review service. We have a team of Ivy League consultants
21:35who would be happy to give you in-depth feedback. Okay, next, let's talk about letters of recommendation.
21:40So when you apply to college, you will have to submit three recommendation letters, one from your
21:44guidance counselor and two from your teachers. These recommendation letters are essentially speaking
21:48to your character, accomplishments, academic ability, and they help admissions officers get an
21:54outside perspective on the kind of student you are. It's one thing to write an essay and say that
21:58you're intellectually curious. It's another to have your teacher tell an admissions officer that
22:02you're intellectually curious. I think it's best to ask teachers for letters of rec sometime in October
22:07and make sure you're asking teachers ideally from junior year and those who have seen you interact
22:12in a classroom context. Make sure the teachers you ask are those that you know very well and those
22:17who can attest to your redeeming qualities. I highly recommend you ask your teachers in person so you can
22:22gauge their enthusiasm. Obviously, the best letters are going to come from the teachers who are very
22:26excited to write one for you. Also, very important to note, try to ask only junior year teachers.
22:32You could ask a sophomore year teacher if you really can't think of anyone else, but you do not
22:37want to ask any freshman year teachers for a letter of rec. Chances are they probably can't speak much to
22:42who you are today. And finally, after you ask your teachers for letters of rec, it helps to give them
22:47something called a brag sheet. A brag sheet is a list of your accomplishments, activities, anecdotes from the
22:52classroom that can help your teacher write an outstanding letter. I have a brag sheet template
22:57that you can use and fill out in the description of this video. Okay, next, let's briefly talk about
23:01financial aid, which is a very important part of the application process. Most of you will want to
23:06fill out something called the FAFSA, which opens up October 1st. This is an application for federal
23:12financial aid. Some schools might also require you to fill out something called the CSS Profile, which
23:17provides a more nuanced look into your family's financial circumstances. To see whether or not a school
23:22requires the CSS Profile, you can just search up a school's name, followed by financial aid
23:27requirements. I might make a video or a guide about the FAFSA and CSS sometime in the future,
23:32so let me know if that would be helpful. A tool that I like to use to find scholarships is the
23:36College Board Scholarship Search. Here it is, you can use this tool to find matches from over 6,000
23:42programs. And the great part is, this tool will help you find scholarships based on your interests,
23:46situations, affiliations, and so on. Okay, so now let's move on to one of the final parts of this video,
23:52submitting your application. So now you want to make sure that you have submitted everything that
23:56is required of you. And let me go ahead and read off a small checklist that might be helpful. All
24:00parts of your common app, teacher recommendations, counselor recommendation, and secondary school
24:04report, transcript, fee waiver or application fee, and test scores. And obviously for some schools,
24:09test scores are optional. Make sure to submit whatever you can, and then follow up with your
24:13guidance counselor to see if they've submitted everything else. So a few days after you've applied to
24:18all these colleges, they will send you individual links for their application portals. And you can
24:23access these portals to track all of your application requirements and see what has been submitted. And
24:28on these portals, you might see something called the mid-year report. Now here's the thing, after you
24:32apply to college, these schools will still see your senior year grades. They'll ask for your mid-year
24:37report, which will reveal your performance halfway through senior year. And then the school that you
24:41choose to attend will also want to see your final transcript to see if you maintained your grades.
24:46So by all means, try to fight off senioritis. Now something else that I want to flag are
24:50interviews. A few weeks after you apply to a college, an alumnus might reach out to you asking
24:55to schedule an interview. Now not every school does interviews, but many of them in the top 20 do.
25:01Now college interviews are surprisingly casual. They're just conversations between you and someone
25:05who has gone to the school, and you should see them as an opportunity to learn more about the school
25:09and to ask any questions you have. Now once these are over and a few months have gone by,
25:14it is finally time for decisions. So now if you applied early to a school, you probably already
25:19got your decisions mid-December. But for the schools you applied regular to, you're going to
25:23get your decisions back in March or April. Now if you applied early, you'll either be accepted,
25:28deferred, or rejected. If you applied regular, you'll either be accepted, waitlisted, or rejected.
25:34A deferral is simply a college's way of saying we haven't made a decision on you, and your application
25:38will be re-evaluated during the regular decision round. Getting waitlisted essentially means that
25:43a college is going to wait to see who accepts their offers, and then based on how much room is left,
25:47they might take some students off the waitlist. Now once you get your offers, it's very important
25:52that you compare them with one another and find the best fit for you. You will probably want to
25:56visit the colleges if you haven't done so already. And if you find that a school is too expensive or
26:01isn't giving you enough financial aid, just know that you can submit a financial aid appeal letter.
26:06This is essentially a request for more money from a college, and I'll link a template in the
26:11description of this video. And after you've played this comparison game and figured out which college
26:15is the best fit for you, it's time to lock in and commit to a college on May 1st, which is National
26:20College Decision Day. After that, you might have to submit a deposit or sign up for orientation,
26:26but largely that should wrap up the college application process. Now I hope this video helped,
26:31and if it did, it would mean the world if you could share it with other seniors who are going through
26:35the admissions process. And if you want to hop on a call or get an essay review from me or my team,
26:40once again, you can find us over at Next Admit. Best of luck getting through the college application
26:44season, and just know that I'm here rooting for you.
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