Arrowhead Seniors Rush to Submit Early College Applications

Seniors at Arrowhead High School were working to complete their college applications by the deadline of November 2.

University of Wisconsin admissions office expects all early admissions to be submitted by November second in order to obtain a response by the end of January of 2016.

Seniors at Arrowhead High School are participating in the college application process, as they plan out their futures after Arrowhead.

When applying to college, some seniors choose to use the common application. The common college application form requires personal information such as contact information, demographics, religious preference, geography (where in the US you have declared residency), languages, and citizenship. On top of this, many applications request information about the household that the applicant lives in. This often includes the type of guardian the applicant has had (parents, step parents, foster parents, etc.) and if the applicant has siblings.  

College is an extended form of education to follow a high school degree. College applications require information about prior education. Colleges would like to know when applicants graduated and how many years it took the applicant to graduate. On top of this, if there was any substantial gap between years of education for an applicant the college or university that is being applied to would expect to be informed of the reasoning for this as well.

Community based organizations (otherwise known as COB’s) are services that an applicant has provided to the community free of profit. Applications provide a space to list community services an applicant has performed.

College applications also request each applicant to submit their transcripts, grades, and current class courses (if the applicant is a senior in high school). A student’s academic class ranking may also be requested in the form of a ranking or percentile.

Generally it is expected that each applicant give a rough outline of his or her future plans. This includes the type of degree the applicant is looking to receive, and can also include a list of potential career interests.

Arrowhead senior Jessie Markham has applied to one college, and says that “[the hardest part was the] essay,”

Markham says she “had to put time in for college apps and homework” in order to balance school and college applications.

Greg Malling, one of the composition teachers at Arrowhead says “Two things stand out [about students applying for college].  One is managing their time, as applying is a job in itself, and they still have school, work, activities, etc. It can be overwhelming if they don’t do some of the work during the summer. The second thing is the constant questions from adults about where they are going to college. It’s a burden they really don’t need, yet we still ask the question.”

Malling says, “Do the applications early, and make sure no adult steals your voice in the essay. At the end of the day, accepted or rejected, you need to know it was your best effort, not mine or any other teacher’s work. Be you.