– Rahul Subramanian, Co-Founder, Athena Education

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and the other Ivies—platform number 9 ¾ of high school seniors—have acceptance rates as low as 3.19% and around 1% for international applicants. While many students have been preparing for years and are familiar with the application process, others may get lost in the intricacies. The application has multiple parts: essays, teacher and counsellor recommendation letters, application forms, college-specific supplements, financial aid documentation, scholarship applications, and supplementary materials (such as arts/research supplements). Different parts of the application have additional deadlines (e.g., scholarship applications). So what’s the ideal timeline?

The first thing a student must finalise is the application rounds that they plan on applying to—Early Application, Early Decision, Regular Decision, and Rolling Admissions. Early Application (EA): the round wherein a student must submit all parts of their profile—by the November 1 deadline—earlier than the usual application round. EA is best used by students to express their exclusive interest in a college; the results are out by mid-December. It is important to note that different forms of early action require different levels of commitment from the applicants. REA or Restrictive Early Action (followed by Harvard, Princeton, and Yale), allows applicants to apply to only one college with a non-binding offer of admission (i.e., if students are admitted in the REA round, they still have the choice to apply to other schools and decide the school they plan to attend by the final college decision response date (mostly April 30 of the college start year).

On the other hand, if one applies for Early Decision (ED) to a college (followed by Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and UPenn), they prioritise it to be their top choice. Acceptance from the college is a binding decision-–if admitted, students are required to attend the college. Needless to say, applicants can only apply ED to one college. On the other hand, Regular Admissions have a deadline ranging from December 31 – January 15  and allow applicants to apply to all their desired colleges (non-binding). In case of Rolling Admissions, colleges  evaluate applications as soon as they are received versus after a fixed deadline. Decisions here are also made based on the availability of spots. None of the Ivy League colleges follow this system.

Once a student has finalised the rounds they wish to apply in, the next step involves carefully understanding all parts of their application (essays, test scores, recommendations, financial aid, and supplementary materials) along with their respective deadlines. One should start the process in May of the last year of high school.  By July, one must aim to complete their standardised testing requirements (SAT/ACT, etc.) and,  if necessary, plan for a second attempt by September. Based on standardised scores, academic performance, co-curricular accomplishments, and aspirations, students must categorise their college list into reach, target, and likely schools.

Once the list is made and standardised tests have been taken care of, applicants should begin with their essays by July. The best pieces of writing require intense ideation and involve multiple revisions. July is also the perfect time for students to compile all information on their extracurricular activities and initiate preliminary conversations with recommenders, giving them enough time and information to write persuasive and detailed letters. Come September, switch the focus to supplementary college-specific applications, financial aid documents, and additional art supplements.

Is it the end of October already? The application is set to sail! Following our timeline, students are prepped to beat delays or challenges, and set for a confident undergrad college application season ahead. Best of luck 🙂

Also read: What drives Indian students to explore off-beat courses abroad