Allison Miller

February 23, 2024

Have you found yourself struggling to put together college applications? You’re not alone, and there’s no need to throw in the towel. Consider yourself lucky to be reading this right now, as I’ve put together a multi-step plan for making the most of your college application journey.

My first word of advice: Get ahead. If you aren’t a Psychology major, you may be unfamiliar with the term ‘planning fallacy’, which refers to the phenomenon where we tend to underestimate how long a task will take. The sooner you start working on the applications, the sooner you will be done with them. Letters of recommendations take a long time to write, and that professor you’re thinking about contacting next week is likely swamped with work. You may be wishing you started a month ago, and maybe you said that several weeks before. Start today, and you won’t regret it tomorrow. 

This goes for the essays especially. Believe me when I say they take way longer than you would have ever imagined; I started mine months ago and am just now wrapping up the second half of my applications! For the essays, it is crucial to get feedback from anyone of expertise. Use the Learning Lab, ask your favorite professor; anyone who is going to give you a professional opinion and provide quality constructive criticism. Some psychological principles can explain the science behind this. Firstly, because humans have a tendency to reaffirm their identity through their behaviors, we tend to attract people that confirm our attitudes. This is why our closest companions may lie just to appease us, and why those who will be most upfront with criticisms are those who can observe you from a distance. In short, maybe your group of friends aren’t the best people to ask if you want to craft your best essay. It may be best to save the group reading for after you get into your dream school. 

Consider how many people are applying to the colleges you are, and think now about how you plan to sell yourself in your essay. No matter what college, ask yourself; what will you give to your schools of choice, and what will your school of choice give to you? Open up a document and get to drafting! Maybe you plan to obtain research experience at your dream school related to your passion for Microbiology, and you hope to advance the STEM discipline by contributing your diverse experiences and devotion to your major’s department and your dream school as a whole. Admission is a two way street; you will stand out as an applicant if you can convince the admissions office that they are gaining something valuable by granting you admission to their school. 

Getting ahead can mean more than just starting up a document and getting your thoughts together. While this is a great start, you can always find ways to do more to stand out against your fellow applicants. For another word of advice: Get involved. If you are interested in Grady’s Garden, volunteer your time just once and you won’t regret it. If you want to write for the Vanguard, submit a short story. You don’t have to invest a lot to make the most of your experience. The majority of us are in a losing battle against time. Just how can we work, attend classes, and find time to complete college applications while ‘getting involved’? It is an impossibility for most. To that I say, do what you can. Surely you have a free half hour in your week, you can volunteer that time to one drop in office hour session, one volunteer day, or even just walking around and introducing yourself to the various departments. Those 5-15 minute interactions add up, especially when professors are thinking of what to write your letter of recommendation about. 

This brings me to my final word of advice: you are never alone in the college application process. Sure, we’ve all had a professor we didn’t see eye to eye with, and not every appointment is going to be sunshine and rainbows. A Psychology principle on fostering a positive relationship with the self is to understand that a life best lived is composed of both positive and negative experiences. The truth is we always bounce back from our negative experiences; maybe we were put on academic probation, maybe we are having difficulties with financial aid. These common college challenges allow us to cherish those few and far between positive experiences. Surely going out to eat with our friends on a Friday night may not have been so rewarding if we didn’t have our boring 8:00AM 101 class that same morning. I say all of this to emphasize that the college experience process is holistic; you will run into hurdles. This applies to the college application process as well. That professor might not have emailed you as soon as you would have liked. Maybe you have less than a month to get everything together due to unforeseen circumstances. Ambitious applicants, I know you’ve got due dates mid-February and I feel for you. Rather than dwelling on these shortcomings, realize that these problems are a privilege to experience. Aaron Beck, founder of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy created the theory that thoughts form attitudes, and attitudes form behaviors. If we think that we can’t navigate a difficult situation, we will prime ourselves to behave as if this is fact. While we may feel powerless over our behaviors, we can control our thoughts. Navigating difficult situations begins with thinking, ‘I am capable, I am deserving of help, and the support systems I have at CCP have my back.’ What comes is an attitude shift into positive, independent, and proactive students. As for our behaviors, we create and attend appointments, we ask for support from our professors and tutors, and we don’t blame ourselves, our surroundings, or our peers for our circumstances. Rather, we recognize that life is dynamic, that we can conquer challenging tasks… and that college applications wait for no one, so stop procrastinating!