After Applying: What Happens Next?
Hey guys!
I'm very excited to be publishing my first official post for the college-bound. I haven't come up with any clever name for these kinds of posts, so if you think of something please leave me a comment down below!
Like my last post said, I will not be discussing what colleges to pick or how to pick them. I think that process is different for everyone and the guidance should come from people like parents or teachers. Instead, for this post, I will be telling you guys a little bit about my college experience and what happened after I applied to my schools.
First, I want to share that I did apply early to a school. Applying early, in my case, meant that, if I got in, I was bound to that school. There are two ways you could go about this: early decision and early action. While these two appear similar, they're actually drastically different. For starters, applying early decision means you will get you will be bound to that school and blacklisted if revealed you applied to more than one school. On the other hand, applying early action means you're allowed to apply to other schools if you get in, but are still given your decision early. To make it even more complicated, some schools even have multiple rounds of early decisions! Because my school was early decision I was left with no choice to apply to only that school.
For the sake of the rest of this series here is the list of schools I applied to:
1. Cornell University
2. University of California, Berkeley
3. University of California, Davis
4. Stanford University
5. Rice University
6. Middleburg College
7. University of Colorado, Boulder
8. University of Hawaii at Manoa
Out of these schools, the one I applied to earliest was Cornell. Their Chinese program is great and they seemed to match up greatly with my statistics.
While your situation may be different, here is what happened to me after I submitted my application.
I submitted my application, supplements and all, to Cornell no later than mid-October. From there, I knew I would be waiting about a month and a half before hearing of my decision. I wasn't nervous at all. I knew Cornell was a reach school*, but I was confident that I had what it takes to get in. The deadline, October 31st, came and went, leaving me to move onto my next few applications.
To students out there who have decided to apply to a school early, do not stop here! While your chances are, historically, higher of getting accepted if you apply early, there is still that chance that you won't get in. Obviously you can still apply to other schools in this time, but the biggest no-no would be applying to more than one school early. You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to apply to more than one school for early decision. If you do and your college finds out you will be blacklisted and your admission will most likely be revoked. Instead, while you wait, use this time to work on your other applications. Maybe refine your essay or go to another teacher for a recommendation.
It was about a week after the Cornell deadline that I received an email from the school. It stated,
Not exactly word for word but you get the gist!
I was floored. For those of you that don't know, or that aren't familiar with Cornell's application process, let me start by saying they do not interview just anybody. In fact, only the College of Engineering holds interviews for their applicants! I did my research for days and found nothing of anyone from the College of Letters and Sciences being offered an interview, so I was over the moon believing this was a good thing. I was able to schedule the interview for that coming Saturday and spent the days leading up to it rehearsing with my dad what I should say when asked certain questions.
Now, while this scenario is highly unlikely, I wanted to share it with you all. If this happened to me than I by no doubt believe it happened to others, so I want to prepare you as much as possible. Interviews, especially for early decision schools where so much is on the line, is crucial in the application process. Schools will try their hardest to make you believe otherwise, but trust me when I say they matter! I was nervous my entire interview, and while I don't think that was the takeaway, I certainly think it was noticeable. I'm not telling you to go in after taking some chill pills, but go in with a set of answers you have prepared and a set of questions you're ready to ask. For me, the interview was, for the most part, formal. I was given a brief overview of the university, asked a little bit about my major choice, and then had to answer some questions. A few you can expect to hear are, "What will you bring to this College that no other student has/will?", "Why this school?", and, "What do you know about this University?". These are all questions you have a high chance of being asked, so I would come up with a general answer for all of them and then build upon it throughout the interview.
While an interview isn't something most early colleges conduct, it's imperative that you are prepared for it. After my interview, which lasted about an hour, I was further instructed to "wait" for my result. Obviously you're not being graded on the interview, something the interviewer will stress, but you are told to wait it out and hope for the best.
In the case of Cornell, I had no other contact with my interviewer. As a common curtsey, you should email them a thank you and highlight something of importance or interest. Do this no later than a day after your interview.
After this is the waiting game, so continue to work on your essays and, if you need to, continue researching schools! I found researching the schools to be the best part, as you lose absolutely nothing by going to their website and clicking around. Start with their website, then check other social media, like instagram (a personal favorite!), to get an idea of the social side of school. I did this for Cornell a lot and even spent a good amount of my time looking at what merch I would buy if I was accepted! Needless to say I did this with all of my schools.
Students, I know the waiting period is tough but do not lose sight of the end goal! Keep looking at schools, read up on yours, and don't stress out too much. The hardest part, picking and applying, is over! If you applied early, like me, remember that you are not done yet! Keep working towards polishing those applications and I promise it will pay off.
Until next time,
Aislinn
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