COLLEGE QUO
  • Home
  • SERVICES
    • OVERVIEW
    • COLLEGE PREP >
      • 2023-2024 APP CYCLE — PACKAGES
      • College Roadmap Program (9th - 11th Grade)
    • TEST PREP
    • Grad School Consulting
  • Sign Up/Contact
  • Student Highlights
  • Blog
  • Early Start Members Only
  • CQ Fellows Foundation

APPLYING EARLY DECISION: A CAUTIONARY TALE

5/5/2020

1 Comment

 

JOHARI JOSEPH

This post was written by Johari Joseph. Johari is currently in her 3rd year at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She loves to dance, journal, doodle, and attempt to sing. She loves unicorns and rainbows, but is in the process of rebranding to hammerhead sharks. 
Picture
​Applying Early Decision (ED) to Bowdoin College was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. Getting to that decision, however, was not as easy. Here is the story of how I applied ED to Bowdoin: 

Since 8thgrade, I had been involved with a program in Baltimore called Bowdoin Bound, a program run by Bowdoin Alum, Dan Spears. Through this program, I was able, each summer, to go up to Bowdoin for a week and get 75% of the college experience. I was able to live in a dorm, meet with a professor, eat college food and things like that. The other 25% was comprised of college prep work, such as college visits, an interview at Bowdoin, a financial aid meeting, a class with a professor, and college counseling with Dan himself. When it came time to apply for college, with the help of Bowdoin Bound, college visits with my rowing team, and college visits with my high school, I was able to comprise what I called my little black book of colleges with information about each one that I visited, and from there, a list of 15 or so that I wanted to apply to. 

I had marked on a calendar when the common app was available to the public and when it was finally time, I raced to it and started filling in blanks, boxes, and submissions, as early as the day after it opened. I wanted to be on top of it and, most importantly, done early! And, for a hot second, I was on it and on top of it. By mid-October, I was completely done the common app and was in the process of writing the little personal statements. However, I still was faced with a quiet dilemma: Bowdoin College. I knew that I had been wanting to go to Bowdoin since 9thCgrade, when I sat on their quad for the first time. But, I was terrified to make the commitment.

Fast forward, and it is maybe 7 days before the ED application was due and I received a text from Dan asking if I was going to make the leap. It was not until two days later that I decided that ED at Bowdoin was the right decision. I knew it in my gut for months that Bowdoin was where I was meant to be, but I was scared. So, I learned that day that there is an entire financial aid application that needed to be completed and submitted the same day as the common app. Houston, we had a problem, because I had no clue what I was doing. So, I spend the next three or four days collecting information, scanning and rescanning documents (which is really hard to do in highschool), contacting the financial aid office, completing the written submissions to Bowdoin, learning and maneuvering IDOC, and completing the FAFSA while still going to rowing practices and completing my school work. On top of all that, I was hounding my recommenders for their recommendations and checking with my college office to see if they’d submitted my transcripts and other important information (they were notoriously forgetful). It was a journey and I may have submitted everything in totality the day it was due, something I swore not to do during the college admissions process. 

Looking back, it’s a really funny story that is still a little anxiety inducing. But, it worked out in the best way because not a month later, I received my acceptance to my dream school. Here is what you should take away from my experience: 
  1. Have a college list and maybe even rank them in order of what you want. 
  2. Complete the applications early! Once the CommonApp/Coalition App/etc comes out, spend your spare computer time filling it out. It will save you time in the long run.
  3. Know what your full application should look like. I missed the most critical part of the Bowdoin application and caught it at the very end. Know what your college wants so you can be prepared. 
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and communicate with everyone involved! These people want to see you be successful, talk to your recommenders (early!!! And check in with them periodically), your counselors, your community leaders, your program heads, CollegeQuo. These people are resources that want to see you win! 
  5. Most importantly: GO WITH YOUR GUT! Your heart will tell you where you will be happiest, and your gut will reaffirm that. 
  6. Take a breath, this process lasts a few short months and start early, it could be over much faster than that. 
TLDR: I completed my ED application within a week of it being due. Trust yourself, Start Early, Communicate, and Be Prepared.
1 Comment

    Categories

    All
    Applying Early Decision: A Cautionary Tale
    College Admission: A Parent's Perspective
    Covid-19 (April 2020)
    DROPPING YOUR CHILDREN OFF AT COLLEGE ABROAD? HERE ARE SOME TIPS!
    How To Nail The College Interview
    Is A Liberal Arts College Right For You?
    Make Your Last 2 Years Of High School Count
    The HBCU Experience
    Uncovering Early Decision And Early Action
    Why I'm Encouraging My Students To Apply Early Decision
    Why I Started College Quo: My College Admission Journey


​WE CAN'T WAIT TO WORK WITH YOU!

  • Home
  • SERVICES
    • OVERVIEW
    • COLLEGE PREP >
      • 2023-2024 APP CYCLE — PACKAGES
      • College Roadmap Program (9th - 11th Grade)
    • TEST PREP
    • Grad School Consulting
  • Sign Up/Contact
  • Student Highlights
  • Blog
  • Early Start Members Only
  • CQ Fellows Foundation