Not that we have to tell you that!
If you’re working your tush towards Round 2 applications, then you already know how much (or how little! eek!) time you have available to get those essays and apps done.
However, you may unfortunately have even less than you understand.
That’s because you don’t know what you don’t know.
If Round 2 will be your first applications, this advice is especially for you!
What you need to do, like right now, or as soon as humanly possible, is start an application at each and every school you’re planning on applying to. You need to go through their application requirements carefully, screen by screen, and field by field, to be sure you understand what they want and how they want it.
For each one.
If you are unsure on any of the field requirements, go research it and figure out what’s expected there.
You don’t have to have all your answers filled in for all of them. You just have to fully comprehend what each school expects in each part of their app.
Why are we telling you to go do this now?
Because all of the schools’ admissions offices will be shutting down for the holiday break. There’s not going to be nearly as much help available if you run into questions. Some schools may already be ghost towns. They’ll all still have at least some coverage in their admissions offices through the holiday, but it’s not the same as the standard open-for-business access that they all usually have.
Even though you know you’ll be working on your applications pretty much non-stop from now till the first week of January, the schools aren’t as available.
If you hit a roadblock because you have an unusual situation or you don’t know how to handle a specific requirement, you’re not going to have as easy access to those admissions folks right now.
Pro Tip: In all cases, you’ll want to see if you can figure out the answer for yourself. We only suggest contacting the admissions office in true one-off situations, where you have an odd case that you just can’t figure out for yourself from studying the application instructions and scouring everything on the school’s website (and of course searching here on EssaySnark and exhausting all other available sources of input). For basic questions, no, you’d never want to bother the admissions people directly, but every now and then there are very specific situations that do need the admissions people to advise on.
The other big category that needs action now is if you’re planning on requesting an app fee waiver; some schools have this built out and automated within their applications, but many of them ask for requests to be submitted in advance, and those required timeframes are earlier than the deadlines themselves. The test waiver request dates are probably already passed, but that’s the other big category to consider. Get on it today if you have been planning for these.
So. Create those accounts and get started on the detailed requirements review for each and every one of these schools that you’re planning on applying to. Because THIS WEEK is the time to get these loose ends tied up. Not January 3rd, for an app that’s due on the 4th.
Every day counts from here on out, BSer!
Make the most of them!
Tell us what you think.