The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

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March 26, 2024
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Opinion: How to apply to college

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Pictured above are the selection options for applying to college seen on the Common Application. WSPN's Sammy and Whitney explain the options and offer the advantages and disadvantages for each.
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It’s that time of year again. High school seniors are visiting colleges, and college recruiters are visiting high schools. Everyone is getting ready for the college applications that will be sent out soon.

As the deadlines for college admissions are getting closer, WHS seniors are deciding how they want to apply: early action, early decision, rolling admission or regular decision.

Early action requires students to apply in October or November, depending on the school. It’s similar to regular decision but, as stated in the name, it’s an earlier deadline. Early action is not offered by every school, but I would suggest applying early action if the school offers it. It’s not binding, and applicants hear from the college early.

Some schools that offer early action offer it as single-choice early action or restrictive early action. That means that applicants can only apply early to that one school, but it’s not binding. They can still apply regular decision to other schools.

Early decision, on the other hand, is binding. By applying early decision, applicants agree that, if accepted, they will attend this school and they must withdraw all other applications. This can be a wonderful thing if they only have one school in mind and they know it’s the place they’d like to go.

If students have another school they really like or two schools that they’re deciding between, then stay away. Students should only apply early decision if they are absolutely, positively sure that this school is the right place.

Regular decision is the most common type of application. The deadline for regular decision is usually in January, and students can apply to as many schools as they want. I think regular decision is the least stressful of the four admissions options.

For students with no idea where to go or what to do, apply regular decision. There will be plenty of time to decide where to go, and hopefully applicants will have many options.

The fourth option is rolling admissions. Rolling admissions is different because it’s on a first-come, first-serve basis.

A school with rolling admission will have a large window for applications, and students can apply any time within that window, but the students who apply sooner will have priority over students who apply later. It’s not very common, but rolling admission is nice because it gives students incentives to apply as soon as possible.

In the end, no matter how or where students apply, the most important thing to keep in mind is to avoid stressing out too much or procrastinating. Everything will work out in the end, and everyone can make it through this process if they keep in mind that some things are out of their control. Students should try to work as hard as possible on the things that can be controlled, like making sure everything is complete.

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Opinion: How to apply to college