We are about 2 weeks from the RD deadline (if a deadline falls on a weekend or a holiday, we move it to the next business day, so the RD deadline is January 17 this year), so here are some quick thoughts during this time:
- While the deadline is about 2 weeks away, I do not suggest waiting until the deadline to submit your application. Think about it like a scene in an action movie where the timer on the bomb shows one minute, and the hero is holding a pair of wire cutters. Do you really want to wait until the timer is down to 1 second before you cut the wire? If not, don’t wait until the last second to submit the application!
- Tell your neighbor, tell your friends, tell your counselor and tell your teacher, NO FAXES! We will shred any official document that comes in as a fax.
- Be patient as we go through the large volume of applications, transcripts, recommendations, etc. that will come in over the next few weeks. If something does not show up the day after you send it, do not panic.
- If you go by a different name than is on your application (your real name is James R. Graves III, but you go by Trey), tell your school counselor and teacher that the documents they send in need your full correct name on them. We are working off your full name, so trying to find Trey will be difficult. The same goes for test scores (put your official name on the SAT/ACT when signing up for it!).
- The deadline is the deadline for both the application and supporting documents. If you do not know this, then you did not read the instructions. We do give some amount of leeway with the deadline, but not much, so get your documents in on time.
- The last test score we will take will be the January 28 SAT. We are not able to use any test scores taken after this date. Remember, put UGA as one of your options for colleges receiving these scores. Do not wait until you see the scores before you send them, as it may delay the scores for too long. Remember, we only use the highest subscores from all of your tests, so you can send all scores in without fear of a lower score hurting you.
- When completing the different activities/sports/honors/work sections, make sure you put things in the correct sections. In addition, make sure to tell us about your involvement in the activity, when you were active in it (including projected spring 2012 activities), and list groups that are outside of school if applicable. We want to know if you volunteer at the local library, if you are active in a youth group, if you play a club sport, etc. We are not mind readers, so you need to tell us about yourself.
- Do not take an academic dive second semester of your senior year. It will come back to haunt you if you do (eerie, haunting music should accompany this bullet point).
- Do not over-obsess about the essays. Write them, let us know about yourself in them, let another person read them to check for errors (and then fix them), and then submit. Do not over-analyze your essays! There is no exact perfect essay or perfect word choice.
- Do not use a thesaurus to write your essays. You don’t sing “Propel, propel, propel your craft,
lightly down the liquid solution, ecstatically, ecstatically,
ecstatically, ecstatically, existence is but an illusion.” Write it so we can read it! - Double check the eight or so items we show you on the last submission page to make sure they are correct, and make sure you use your correct SSN. Do not use the SSN for your sibling, father, mother, best friend, etc. Make sure it is correct (down to the last digit), or things might not always go smoothly, from admissions to financial aid.
- Don’t forget to smile and breathe.
Go Dawgs!