If you submitted any Regular Decision applications, congratulations! You can breathe a little easier now that you’re done with your essays and applications. However, before settling in to wait for your admissions decisions in the spring, you’ll want to be sure you follow-up and confirm that your application is complete and that everything is in order. Review our post-Regular Decision checklist to make sure you’re on track.
The Application Itself. It might seem obvious, but you’ll want to confirm that your applications were submitted properly, and that any application fees have been paid. Many colleges send an electronic confirmation when you submit your application, or provide an electronic account where you can check your application status. If you didn’t get an acknowledgement from the college that your application was submitted, you should get in touch to confirm.
Standardized Test Scores. Confirm the testing requirements for each college you’ve applied to, and make sure that you’ve sent the appropriate scores (SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, TOEFL, etc.) to each college according to their requirements. And if you haven’t sent them yet, be sure to send those official scores as soon as possible!
School Documents. You should confirm that your guidance counselor has submitted your transcript and School Report, and that your teachers have submitted your recommendation letters. Most colleges send you information about how to check your application status electronically, and for any Common App schools, you can see when the college downloaded those materials through your Common App account, assuming they were submitted online. If your counselor or teachers have not submitted your recommendations or school forms, you can send them a friendly reminder.
Check Again! After you’ve checked that everything on your end has been submitted – application, test scores, recommendation letters, etc. – wait a week or two and then check your official application status with the college. If anything is still missing a couple of weeks after the deadline, call the admissions office to follow-up. Ask if you need to re-send any documents, or if the missing documents are still being processed. If you do need to re-send anything, be sure to ask the best way to send it! Some colleges have an email address or fax number specifically for application documents.
You might have to wait a few months until you get your admissions decisions back, but you should still be proactive and check early to make sure your applications are complete!
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