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What's involved in filling out a college application?

Written by Sally Rubenstone | Feb. 11, 2002

Question: What's involved in filling out a college application?

College application forms are as different as the institutions that require them. Some application forms are as simple as both sides of one piece of paper. Others look like a small book, with many pages. I have seen some college applications that are 23 pages long, requiring six written statements from the student as well as the usual teacher recommendations and other details. The answer to your question, then, is that it takes anywhere from 30 minutes to a week or so of evenings (or longer) to fill out college applications.

As with resumes and job application letters, neatness is a very important factor of your application. The majority of colleges will have no problem with a hand-written application as long as it's readable and free from smudges and erasures. Typing is always a sure way to make a good impression. If you have a computer with a laser or bubble-jet printer--and you know how to use it--you can make an extremely strong impression by formatting your application pages for computer printing.

One of the most important--and most frequently underestimated--is the letter of recommendation.

Some colleges only require one. Others may require two from teachers and one from your counselor. Keeping track of all these administrative details can make the submission of a complex application a very challenging undertaking.

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.