Many of you Pre-Collegiettes™ will be starting your college application journey in the coming weeks and months. You may be excited, scared or both (or neither). You may have been brainstorming essay topics since freshman year, or you may still be mad at your mom for planting that SAT book in your room while you were out last week.
No matter how you’re feeling about college apps, you’ll never be without plenty of books, websites, coaches and tutors clamoring to help you get into that dream school. Another tool joining the fray is Acceptly.com, a website and facebook application that promises to gain you acceptance to your favorite college by helping you find your best fit, discover your most college-worthy accomplishments and activities, and stay on track with all the application steps.
I’m not far removed from the college process—I was accepted to Northwestern University only a few months ago, and I remember all too well the stress, tears and self-doubt that came with trying to put my whole self into a college application. Here’s my take on Acceptly.com:
Acceptly gives you challenges to complete from the moment you sign up, such as reading their blog posts about activities, tests and essays, making lists of the qualities you want in a school, etc. For each activity you complete, you receive a certain number of points. Every few challenges, you receive a badge. The number of points and badges you have will give you an idea of how close you are to that golden acceptance letter. You can also view a roadmap that shows you all the upcoming challenges you will need to complete. If you connect your Acceptly account to facebook, you can share your progress, answer questions about your friends (Who would you rather share a dorm room with?), and more.
Acceptly is a good, clean site that is easy to activate and simple to navigate. I like that you are not required to connect with facebook in order to gain access to the most important part of the site—the steps to getting into college. The challenges are all short and easy (even though there are a lot of them) so you feel as if you are making lots of progress even if you’ve only been on the site for five minutes.
I would not recommend Acceptly to everyone—I think you should use it or not use it based on the type of person you are. If you are feeling apathetic about the college process and think you’ll have a hard time staying on track with all the steps you need to complete, definitely give the site a try. It will help you follow a schedule and save you from searching for a 24-hour post office on New Year’s Eve, while slowly getting you excited about the process. You also might want to consider Acceptly if you’re super organized and are looking for the best way to keep all your college stuff in order—Acceptly is a great way to do that.
If you’re like I was last year, be thoughtful when deciding whether to use Acceptly or not. I was constantly worrying about whether my activities, classes and grades were good enough to get me into college—but the truth is, once you’re a senior, it’s too late to change the last three years! Acceptly definitely does not encourage doing activities just because they will look good, but using the site can still get you into that frame of mind. If you’re prone to freaking out, pass on Acceptly and remember to keep things in perspective: Do what you love, put forth your best efforts in everything you do, and be yourself. The right college will follow!
Want to try out Acceptly now? Click here for exclusive early access!