College applications are in... Now what?

While some colleges accept applications well in to March, April, May, and even June, many deadlines have already passed and we hope that, for your own sanity, you are finished or close to finished the college application process. So once you have put that last application in the mail (or clicked that last “Submit” button), what do you do? It’s time to breathe a sigh of relief and wait for those thick envelopes (or enthusiastic emails) to come rolling in… right?

Contrary to popular belief, your senior spring is no time to slack off. Don't drop your hardest course because you'd rather sleep in, don't procrastinate on your papers because "the grades don't matter," and keep giving your school assignments and extracurriculars 100% effort.

Why?

First off, many colleges request midyear reports. They'll see what courses you've been taking and what grades you've been getting. If you are on the cusp of acceptance, a bad midyear report might push you right into the "reject" pile. So study hard for those midterms or finals... they definitely still matter.

Second, interviews. Many colleges have alumni interviews or on-campus interviews. Let's say you meet with one of these campus reps and they ask you what you've been doing in school. What classes are you taking? ("Oh, um, just four-- French was just taking up too much time.") What's an interesting book you've read for class this semester? ("Well, I liked the beginning of Brave New World, but actually never got to the end.") What extracurricular activity is most important to you? ("I played on the soccer team last year...")

Third, think about what might happen a few months down the line. What if you get waitlisted at your top choice? What if you find out you're up for a scholarship? Keeping your GPA on track (or even pushing it up a few decimals) and giving school the same energy you have since freshman year can work wonders when you’re being compared to your senioritis-afflicted peers.

But go ahead and breathe that sigh of relief anyway. After all, you only have one semester left of that unique experience known as high school. Just hang in there until June!