Students across the world are applying for college. Whether it’s finding the right time to apply, making sure you have all the requirements, getting credits or writing the actual application, all can be struggles during high school.

“Do it early. The earlier the better because that’s when the scholarships are available and that way you know as a student where you’re headed and what you need to get done,” 9th grade English teacher Tim Williams said.

For senior Anna Monro, who recently got accepted into Avila, she felt that she should’ve taken this advice.

“I probably should’ve starting applying a lot sooner than I did,” Monro said. “All I did was apply to one school and I got in and that was the one I wanted to go to. So if I could do it over again, I would apply either over the summer of junior year (going into senior year) or right when you hit senior year.”

When writing an application essay, make sure you put as much effort as possible into it. Even simple grammar mistakes can make a difference. College adviser Jasmin Morgan helps students out with troubles they may be experiencing with college applications and writing the essay.

“Proofreading is the biggest thing,” Morgan said. “Some students will write an essay, don’t proofread it and just submit it. There’s typos, grammatical errors, and those are things colleges look at. They can tell if you didn’t proofread your essay. They can clearly see that you didn’t take time to sit down and make sure you submitted a great piece of work.”

While someone should focus on proofreading, they shouldn’t fixate too much on the costs because there are always options available to help with money troubles. Most schools provide resources to students to help with money, like scholarships or financial aid.

“Students with free or reduced lunch qualify for application fee waivers and they can get waivers for ACT exams as well,” Morgan said.

For students not receiving benefits from free or reduced lunches, info is always available and students can get help from their counseling office or counselor at school.

When it comes to choosing a major, not everyone will take the same amount of time. For some, like Williams, they’ll know what they want to do right away.

“Pretty much for my senior year in high school I figured I wanted to be an English teacher,” Williams said.  

For others, it may not come to them as quickly.

“It’s completely okay not to know what you want to do or have a plan. Thousands of students across the country go to college and have no idea what they want to do, you just gotta give it some time. So it’s completely OK not to know, you can still go to a four year and have all the benefits and enjoy it,” Morgan said.