How to Support Your Student

As an educator, you are in an ideal position to assist your students in their college application process. We have found the following to be helpful for college applicants:

Take challenging courses:

Encourage your students to take the most challenging classes available at your school that they can effectively manage.

Prep for tests:

Tell your students to research the standardized tests that selective colleges require (such as SAT and Subject Tests, or the ACT, often with Writing).

Students should take these tests during their junior year, especially if they plan to apply to the National College Match.

Meet the counselor:

Remind your students to meet regularly with their school counselors and get to know their teachers, as they will be writing recommendations for college applications.

Start early:

Prompt your students to start working on their college applications as far in advance of the deadlines as possible. In particular, they should leave plenty of time to draft and revise their essays, a process in which you can help them.

Take advantage of the full application:

Inform your students that they should use the application to their advantage by providing as full a picture of themselves as possible. Students should consider how all the pieces of their application fit together to make a cohesive whole.

Edit, edit, edit:

Impress upon your students the importance of editing and proofreading all application materials—sloppy mistakes suggest that they did not spend sufficient time on an application.

Help with the college list:

Ask them to carefully consider what schools they will apply to, and offer to answer their questions as they research colleges. For the National College Match, they should remember that most of the colleges require binding commitments to attend if they rank them, so they must be confident in their choices.

College visits matter:

Encourage them to visit any colleges they are interested in. They should seek out more than just the "big name" schools and think about the kind of environment in which they would thrive—they might be surprised by what they find when visiting. College admissions offices may help to support and pay for campus visits for students who cannot afford them otherwise.