College Checklist
Mr. Liedtke
A.J. Shiarella, Staff Writer
August 31, 2009
Filed under Student Life
“Where do you want to go to college?” So you’ve probably heard this question about a gazillion times. Your family has asked it, your friends have asked it, your teachers have asked it; even that guy you just realized has been your neighbor for the past ten years has insisted on asking it. By now you probably have a well conditioned response deeply ingrained in your mind, but with the excitement of senior year, the stress of AP classes, or the early onset of “senioritis”, it is easy to forget about the response to an equally important question: how are you going to get in?
Though college applications can seem stressful, there are ways to reduce some of the pressure and strengthen your chances for success in the future. First of all, “Don’t procrastinate,” says Mr. Liedtkie, Le Jardin’s college counselor. “There is a lot to be done, yet it is not as bad if it is done using your time wisely.” As for students who have not yet decided where they want to go, Mr. Liedtkie gives some advice, “I kind of relate it to going grocery shopping, you have a list of things that you want and so the sooner that you can develop this list, the process becomes easier as far as what type of school. Now it is just a matter of taking that and applying it to what it matches up with.”
In terms of the number of schools you should think about applying to, “The standard number is anywhere between four and six schools,” says Mr. Liedtkie, “but this year I think we are going to have somebody break the bank and do as many as fifteen, where I’ve seen some students apply to one, even two. You want to have options, that’s my big thing. A student wants to have options, so apply to multiple schools so that you can make sure that you have an opportunity to see what types of packages you can get from a school.” For many students, deciding where to attend college also depends on what they can afford. While it may seem daunting to apply for scholarships on top of applying to colleges, Mr. Liedtkie says, “That for me goes hand in hand, too, with you want to have options. I would tell seniors to apply to whatever they can in terms of scholarships because you never know what the applicant pool is of that particular scholarship.”
Lastly, if you have the opportunity, visiting potential schools is a great chance to find out what is a possible fit. “I think colleges, in a way, are similar to a human,” says Mr. Liedtkie, “we have personality, schools have personality and you want to make sure that the environment that you are going to see is what’s best for you.”
For more information on your college application deadlines check out: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/the-application/23626.html