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College Exploration Process

There are a number of steps throughout the college exploration process and some may differ between students. However, there are some universal steps that can benefit all students.

Researching Colleges

• One of the best ways to begin researching colleges is to utilize some of the following wonderful websites available to all students: GA College 411, GA Career Information System (GCIS), or US News and World Report. This may serve as a starting point in researching schools and determining some of the best college matches for you.
  
  
  • Login Information: GCIS User name and Password information may be found in the Counseling Department or the Media Center
    
    
• When you are researching colleges, you should begin to determine which schools may be the best fit for you
  
  • Look at the "Freshman Profile" for each college you are interested in and make sure you are confident in your grades, test scores, and rigor of curriculum relative to students who are incoming College Freshmen.
  • Do you prefer to learn in a smaller environment with fewer students or do you enjoy a larger college experience with more students? Check the enrollment statistics to see how large the student body is at any particular college
  • Do you prefer to be in an urban area or in a smaller college town? Research the geographic area around each college to see if it is a place you will be interested in living
  • Are college athletics, student organizations, or extracurricular activities important to you? Look at the college web site or call the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to find out information about student activities
    
• When you can answer some of aforementioned questions, you may want to visit the College Matching Assistant on GA College 411 in order to revise your in-state school list.

Applying to College

• After you determine where you will be applying to college, check the “Undergraduate Admissions” page of the schools’ web sites in order to find admission deadline(s) and materials required for submission.

• You may find the following types of deadlines: Early Decision, Early Action, and/or Regular Decision.
  
  • Early Decision is an ethically binding agreement between you and the college. Typically, colleges will not release you from the agreement unless you provide documentation that your family finances have changed or an adequate financial aid package was not approved.
  • Early Action is NON-binding. Students who apply to a college through early action may receive an admissions decision earlier than students who apply through regular decision. Some students may be "deferred", meaning their application materials will be moved to the regular decision process to be reviewed again at a later date.
  • Regular decision is the regular deadline set by the college for admissions decisions.
  • You may be "deferred" during any of the aforementioned decision making processes. Often, colleges require additional materials in order to reconsider your application materials. Typically, the colleges request the additional materials when they send the deferral letter or email communicating their decision.
    
• Be sure to set a time table for yourself when gathering materials for your school's deadline:
  
  • Most high schools require that transcript requests are submitted with a certain amount of "lead time," giving your school the necessary amount of time to do a quality job of gathering and submitting all of your required materials.
  • A good rule of thumb is to give your teachers and counselors at least two weeks notice to write and submit a letter of recommendation.
    
• Be sure to check for different deadlines that correspond to certain scholarships or certain types of financial aid! Some schools require you to apply at a certain time if you are also applying for scholarships or financial aid.

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