As the November 1st Deadline passed quickly, Cat Dorf shares some of her experiences in the upcoming days to the deadline and everything that she had to get done.
The Catalyst (TC): How did you feel leading up to the November 1 deadline?
Cat Dorf (CD): I was pretty stressed. I hadn’t finished my personal statement yet, and I was rushing to get that done. But other than that, it was okay. There was also a lot of like last-minute touches that I had to do in Common App on the information that I had to include, which took some time because I had to verify it with my parents and counselor.
TC: When did you start working on your applications?
CD: I started pretty late. I started maybe a month into senior year, even opening common apps. So yeah. That created some stress for me, but in general, I think that I got all of my work done before the deadline and I got it done efficiently.
TC: What was the hardest part of finishing everything on time?
CD: I think just having all the right information and double-checking that I added everything I needed and making my personal statement as good as I liked, to my best ability. And also making sure that all of my work, including my supplements and my personal statement, was up to the standard of myself and the standard of my college counselor.
Lilly Lauritzen also shares her insight on the process and why she decided to apply for this deadline. Additionally, she included some insight for juniors about starting this process.
The Catalyst (TC): Did you apply early action, early decision, or regular decision to which schools and why?
Lilly Lauritzen (LL): I applied early action to five schools. Those schools were CU Boulder, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Western Washington University, University of Washington, Oregon State, Penn State, and University of Vermont. And I decided to apply early action because I thought that it would take some work off my plate, and I also really like all of these schools, and I wanted to show that I was really interested.
TC: How did you manage stress, or like time when trying to finish your essays or the applications?
LL: I was sure to start all my writing, supplementals, and time-consuming parts of the application really early during the summer, especially when I worked on them, and I think that relieved a lot of stress. This really helped me space out the process so that I was not super stressed in the days leading up to the deadline and so that I wasn’t scrambling the night before.
TC: What advice would you give to juniors for next year when starting this process?
LL: I would tell them to start researching colleges and finding out what they want out of a college as early as possible. Also, start to think about what you might want to study because I know for me, I had an idea of what i wanted to do, but once I started looking at the majors that colleges had to offer, it changed a little bit.
TC: Once you were done with those applications for the November 1st deadline, did you do anything to celebrate?
LL: I personally did not celebrate. My family was really proud of me and excited for me, but I didn’t do anything to celebrate. I just took some time to relax because the week was exhausting and just hung out with my family.
Amelia Breckenridge talks about some of the struggles she experienced in the weeks leading up to the deadline, and also some ways that she managed her stress during this time of the first application period.
The Catalyst (TC): Did you have any last-minute issues or surprises, or like stress before the deadlines?
Amelia Breckenridge (AB): I didn’t have last-minute stress before the deadlines, but there were a few schools that I was planning on applying to that required an SAT score, like right before the deadline to sign up for the SAT, which I didn’t plan on taking. So then I just had to cut those schools off my list.
TC: How did you stay organized during this process, especially with early action and early decision?
AB: I had a lot of like to-do lists that I would just keep, you know, running documents of, so I knew, like, when I had deadlines for certain things, and I would plan out when I wanted to get certain things, like, you know, the activities list or the supplemental essays done.
TC: What are you most excited or nervous about, now that early actions and like decisions are in, and are you more nervous or excited now?
AB: I’m more excited because they’re done with and I’m just excited to see where I get in, and I’m excited to go visit schools. Hopefully, it’s the schools that I want to go to, but you know, we’ll see.
