So, You Submitted Your College Application

Congratulations! After months of preparation, countless hours spent writing and rewriting essays, and several hopefully not-too-awkward interviews, you are officially a college applicant! I hope you are proud of yourself for all your hard work and dedication. However, the process is not over, and now comes arguably the hardest part: the wait! I know just how agonizing the weeks between submitting your application and getting your decision can be, so here are a few tips on how to spend them and, maybe, make them a little less miserable.

Tour Campus

If you haven’t already, these next weeks are a great time to tour the campuses of the colleges that you applied to! You can do it either in-person or virtually, but touring campus is important not only to get to know the college facilities and surroundings, but to talk to admissions officers and current students, and ask them any questions you may still have about the institution.

Practice Gratitude

This is the perfect time to thank all the people who have helped you along the way. Send thank you notes or show appreciation in other ways to the professors who wrote your recommendation letters, to the counselor who curated your college list, to the friend who peer-reviewed your supplemental essay, to the older sibling who drove you to practice, to the coach who put you in contact with an Admissions Office… you get the point! Not only will this be a wholesome opportunity for you to reflect on your college application journey and grow in your gratitude for the support you have gotten throughout, but I am sure they will appreciate it too!

Keep Up with your Research

While I am sure you extensively researched every institution you applied for, as you prepare for potentially having to pick between two or more of them, it can never hurt to take an even deeper dive into all the facts about them you can get your hands on. You might want to find out the tiny details that, when faced with such a choice, could turn into dealbreakers. For example, you may want to know how many hours a week a student typically works their campus job, whether you can attend sports events for free, or if the school mascot aligns with your animal spirit (being a Knight is pretty cool; being a mosquito? Not so much.). 

Catch Up on Rest

This is the most important item on this list. You have worked so hard over the past months, you deserve a break! Bake some cookies, go back to reading that book you had to pause, watch something on your watchlist, buy yourself a milkshake… the possibilities are endless! The point is, after all your efforts, you should get a chance to sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself, whatever that looks like for you.

As a junior, Fátima (she/her) is excited to continue her pursuit of a SOAN major and (hopefully!) Educational Studies, Latin American Studies, and Cross-cultural Studies minors. Outside class, she enjoys her leadership roles with Fellowship in Christ and the Undergraduate Journal for Humanistic Studies. In her free time, Fátima likes spending time with her mentee, poorly playing the piano, watching cartoons, and desperately missing her dog, Cosmo. Meet the other bloggers!