Wednesday, Oct. 15th was the Early Action deadline for several North Carolina universities. UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, Davidson College and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) all required applicants to have submitted an application, test scores, high school transcripts and supplemental materials by the October date to be considered for early admission.
Several seniors at Northwood have already applied to college for early admission, and some have been considered for merit scholarships like the Morehead Cain at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Park scholarship at N.C. State.
Senior Emma Johnson is applying to N.C. State, UNC-Charlotte and one more school. Johnson is a varsity volleyball player. She talked about the amount of time spent on college applications.
“Lately, it’s been a good hour every day,” Johnson said. “I just try to get something done daily. My mom has been down my throat.”
Family pressures also play into the schools that students apply to. Senior Zara Strayer is a Link Leader and is involved in the Twelve, National Honor Society, Teen Court and varsity soccer. Strayer is applying to five schools: UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State, Elon University, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Kansas, where she has been accepted as a double legacy student.
“Just a couple days ago I received the Jayhawks Legacy Scholarship in the mail,” Strayer said. “College tuition is reduced to $45,000, or less than $12,000 a year, cheaper than a handful of in-state colleges. “I have definitely seen a shift in my parents. Especially with that scholarship; these last two days I said to them, ‘I want to keep my options open, I still might want to go somewhere else.’ And they have always brought up money [saying], ‘Well, you can’t pass that up.’”
Still, Strayer has more work to do with her other four options.
“I have been filling out applications, and I had the Common App and separate applications for Berkeley, Elon and Kansas,” Strayer said.
The Common Application, often called the “Common App” for short, is an online college application accepted by 400 colleges and universities in the United States. 14 institutions in North Carolina accept the Common Application, with more member schools joining every year. Last year was the first time N.C. State began accepting the Common Application.
Senior Chaz Bailey plays varsity basketball and is a member National Honor Society, Fuel-Up and Science Olympiad. N.C. State is one of his five choices.
“N.C. State took the Common App, which was nice, but UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State don’t take it, so I have to go through the whole process again,” Bailey said. “It took three or four hours just on N.C. State alone. I had to do an essay, three more smaller essay-type questions, and it was just basically finding information and searching stuff.”
Some colleges and universities, however, choose not to use the Common Application. Appalachian State University has their own application and a portal called MyApp for students to submit supplemental materials. Harvard University is currently exploring an alternative for the Common Application.
Seniors applying to college often underestimate the amount of time necessary to complete applications on time. Strayer is struggling with four different remaining applications.
“I would start earlier,” Strayer said. “I am on track to get everything done on time, but I could have made it a lot easier on myself, definitely.”
Bailey shared some words of advice for the class of 2017.
“[I would] not put it off like I did,” Bailey said. “I waited until about five days before early application process [was due]. It was pretty stressful, those five days. I did it, but I would have liked to get started earlier if I could do it again.”
Applying to college is often considered the first test in time management that college hopefuls must face. Johnson started earlier on her work and is not feeling as stressed.
“I went onto my other applications that weren’t on the Common App, and I already had a gist of what I wanted to say,” Johnson said. “So it’s really not as stressful, and I feel like I have a grasp on things.”
For incoming seniors, Strayer advises to narrow down selections early.
“If you don’t have to apply to a lot of schools, don’t,” Strayer said. “If you can, focus your interest and find a place you want to go; find a couple others and start early.”
– By Hunter Koch