What I Wish I Knew Before Applying to College!
Hello hello! My name is Chelsea and I serve as an Admission Counselor at Pepperdine. The last time I wrote for the Seaver Blog, I told you what factors I took into consideration to help me confidently enroll at Pepperdine. But, this time around, I want to go back to the very beginning and discuss navigating the application process!
For me, preparing college applications was a daunting mountain to climb. No one else in my immediate family had gone through the traditional process, and I had so many questions. Fortunately, I had the best college counselor in my corner and was able to feel confident and prepared as a result of his support.
So, whether you feel confident, cautious, or downright confused about how to start applying for college, I'm here to help! Here are three tips to get you started in the right direction:
Tip #1 Talk to your Admission Counselor!!!
Did you know that for all the schools you are applying to, there are dedicated staff members whose entire job is to help you navigate the application process? It’s true!
Ad·mis·sion // Coun·se·lor
Our Assistant Director, Ivery, during one of her visits to a high school in San Diego!
Every fall, admission counselors will travel the country to visit high schools, participate in college fairs, and host admission interviews.
The main goal? To equip students with information about our institutions and how to apply.
The best part? We make this information more tangible by sharing it in-person and having face-to-face conversations with you!
Admission counselors are people that YOU can follow up with throughout every stage of the application process: from before you even start, all the way until you make an enrollment decision of your own. In a very real sense, they help students put a familiar face to the name of the institution.
Visiting high schools, I often see students feel both excited and reserved when meeting college representatives. The admission process can seem mysterious, especially when interacting with someone from your dream school for the first time. But trust me: these representatives truly want to get to know you!
So, my first recommendation is to talk to your counselor. Never done this before?
Here are a few Easy Steps to Find Your Admissions Representative:
- Make a list of 3 schools you are interested in
- Search “Meet Your Admission Counselor [insert school name]” online
- Initiate a conversation with your direct admission counselor
It might sound intimidating but like I said earlier, we really want to get to know you! And if you don't have a question yet, just introduce yourself. Doing this now means you'll have someone in your corner, ready to support you, when you need it later on.
If you’re interested in Pepperdine, try this strategy out with our team first and meet your admission counselor here. You've got this!
Tip #2 Campus Tours and Virtual Events
Say it with me: events, events, and events! Think about it: you are applying to these schools as potential homes for the next few years. Attending the admission office’s events are a great way to see what each school offers to their students.
Event Recommendation #1: Take a Tour!
Tours are a great way for you to learn more about potential universities and experience a host of different campus cultures. They also represent an opportunity to learn more about the application process.
At Pepperdine, we host an application workshop immediately following our campus tours. Here, an admission counselor like myself will guide you through how our committee reviews applications, show you how to stand out in your application, introduce you to financial aid resources, and showcase the transformative power of a Pepperdine education. You can sign up for a tour and workshop at this link!
Event Recommendation #2: Explore Schools’ Virtual Resources!
As much as you may want to road trip throughout the U.S. and visit every school on your list, the logistics don’t always work out. So, you’ve gotta make sure that you leverage the free, online resources that admission offices around the country make available to you!
At Pepperdine, we offer an immersive virtual experience where you can get 360° views of our campus from wherever you are located. This includes our main campus and Payson Library, but also our Center for Communication and Business, the Eddy D. Field Baseball Stadium, and the Nursing facilities at the Calabasas Campus.
Let’s not forget about webinars! These are fun virtual sessions designed to answer everything from questions about application information to campus community life. At Pepperdine, we host webinars dedicated to questions like:
- What's it like to study at a faith-based school?
- How can I get an internship or participate in research?
- What are the ins and outs of studying abroad?
My favorite thing about Pepperdine webinars is that the majority include current student panels, offering you authentic and real-time insights into the Pepperdine experience! If you want to connect with schools like Pepperdine earlier on and get a sense of the different ways you will be supported on campus, you can view our webinar calendar here and attend one that interests you most!
Tip #3 Staying Organized During the Application Process
Okay, so by now you’ve got an idea of how to engage with the schools that you’re interested in! Talking with your admission counselor, visiting campus in person or virtually, and participating in webinars are all great ways to begin supportive and informative relationships with the institutions that you’re curious about.
This last tool, though, is meant to help you when you’re on your own; when it’s just you, your computer, and a blank college essay.
In moments like the one described above, finding that one really important piece of information tucked away in that one email from that one awesome admission counselor at that one great college *gasps for air* becomes pretty important…
Oh yeah, let’s talk about some simple and practical ways to stay organized during the college application process!
Create a New Email Address
When you enter the college application process, it’s going to be inevitable. You’ll receive a lot of emails from universities containing greetings from counselors like myself, step-by-step instructions on how to apply, application fee waivers, and more.
While these materials are important, I know that the constant flow of information can be overwhelming and hard to manage.
If you are great at checking your email, I applaud you! But if you find this to be challenging, my first tip with staying organized is to consider creating a new email address dedicated solely to the college application process. One email address where colleges communicate with you, and you communicate with them. This can help you avoid the overlap of communication from your current school, job, or even promos from restaurants and stores.
An important caveat though: if you know that you will use your personal email more frequently than this one, just make sure you set aside time to check your college application email! To take it a step further, try creating specific labels to organize your emails. This can help you filter for application updates, financial aid information, or upcoming events like tours or preview days.
Create a Folder for College Application Materials
Here’s a relic: my old high school Google Drive! I had a separate folder for all my
college materials, so that it wouldn’t get mixed in with the rest of my assignments.
Let’s not forget that you are applying to colleges on top of your senior year course load! Your essay brainstorming docs can easily get mixed in with your English writing assignments and research papers.
So, whether you use Google Drive or OneDrive to store your files, I recommend creating a separate folder to act as the hub for all of your college application materials. To make it simple, you can title it something along the lines of “College Applications for 2027.”
Within this folder, I had separate folders to store my essays, scholarship applications,
activities, and more.
Within that folder, you can also create sub-folders to house different materials like your essay drafts, important documents (resumes or art portfolios), and whatever else you need to include to complete your applications. While this task may seem small, you will thank yourself for putting everything in its own place so that you can easily access these documents later down the line.
Use a Digital or Physical Planner!
Whether your personality is more type A, B, or Z, I think we can all agree that when we see an upcoming deadline but don’t write it down somewhere, we will not remember it at all. So, it is my duty to recommend you use a trusty calendar or a planner!
Now this is where organization can meet creativity and personal expression. When I was in high school, bullet journaling and Zebra mildliners were all the buzz on my Pinterest boards, so I used that as inspiration to keep track of assignments, exams, and important deadlines to meet.
First, what you can do is pick out a planner. It can be a physical one where you handwrite these dates or a digital one like Google Calendar. Regardless, use this planner to map out the due dates for your school-specific applications, the FAFSA, scholarship applications, and enrollment agreements.
Beyond those strict deadlines, you can create check-ins and earlier deadlines for yourself! Take the initiative to set an earlier date for when you want your next essay revision done, when to check-in with your teacher about your letter of recommendation, and to perhaps schedule regular meetings with your school counselor (make sure it works for their schedule too!).You know your own limitations, and getting these tasks done with time before the real deadline can help relieve unnecessary stress before you have to hit “submit.”
As satisfying as it may seem to get everything squared away at once, make sure you are incorporating free time into your calendar to give yourself a rejuvenating break. Also, these planners don’t have to be as elaborate as a full spread of bullet journaling (even my attempts didn’t come close!).
Whether you decide to put pen to paper or clickety-clack on your computer, make sure you are having fun in the process! If that means picking a planner that is your favorite color, adding some doodles, or your favorite emojis, do what you can to make penciling in your next due date something to look forward to.
Ready to Start Your College Application Journey?
Take a deep breath with me. Let it out. *Ahhhhhhh.* I know this is a lot of information to digest!
Applying to college is no small feat. To go through the process with ease will, ironically, require some forethought and intentional planning. But, behind all these tips and tools, I hope you can hear my heart and the hearts of the greater college-admission world through this blog.
We believe in you and we want to equip you with the resources that you need to thrive! You don’t need to implement all of these tools in one day. Sit with this blog for some time and think about what calls your attention the most.
I hope this is something you can come back to throughout the summer as you prepare
for an exciting fall. Reach out to me and our team here at Pepperdine if you have
any questions, and let us know how we can support you.
Admission@pepperdine.edu