What I Wish I Knew Before Starting My College Apps

By Aanya S., Student and First-Gen US College Applicant

If I could go back and have one honest conversation with my junior-year self, it would start with this: You’re not alone, and you don’t have to figure it out by yourself.

When I began the college application process, I thought it was just about writing essays and submitting scores. I didn’t know that the hardest part wasn’t the paperwork — it was the planning, the second-guessing, and the self-doubt that crept in when I was supposed to be making the biggest decision of my life.

No one in my family had gone to college in the U.S., and though my parents wanted the best for me, they couldn’t help me figure out FAFSA or the difference between Early Action and Regular Decision. At school, the guidance counselor was juggling over 400 students. It wasn’t her fault, but I felt invisible.

That changed the day I met Joanna, a peer advisor a year ahead of me. She’d been through it all — late nights with the Common App, FAFSA errors, agonizing over which extracurriculars to highlight — and more importantly, she got me. She spoke my language, literally and figuratively. She wasn’t trying to dazzle me with stats or throw acronyms at me. She asked me simple questions like, “What makes you feel most alive?” and “If a college said yes to you, what kind of place would it be?”

I didn’t know it then, but what she was doing was coaching — not advising in a formal sense, but helping me uncover what mattered to me, what made me unique. Together, we mapped out a timeline. We talked about how to approach my essays — not with a strategy to impress, but as a way to tell my story. She helped me understand what colleges were actually looking for: authenticity, clarity, and a sense of purpose.

Looking back, here are five things I wish someone had told me before I started:

1. Your application is not just a form — it’s your story.
   I treated it like a job application at first, checking boxes and trying to sound impressive. But admissions officers aren’t hiring you — they’re inviting you into a community. They want to know who you are when nobody’s watching.
2. Deadlines are only the tip of the iceberg.
   There are internal deadlines too: when to ask for rec letters, when to draft your essays, when to take a step back and reevaluate your list. Having a calendar with built-in breathing room saved me.
3. You will second-guess yourself — that’s normal.
   I rewrote my personal statement three times. I wondered if I should’ve joined one more club or taken one more AP. But I learned that clarity beats quantity. It’s better to go deep than wide.
4. Help is out there, but you have to reach for it.
   Whether it’s a peer coach, a teacher, or someone who went through the process recently, talking to someone who’s walked the path before can change everything. They know the hidden stressors, the unspoken fears, and the little hacks that make a big difference.
5. Celebrate the small wins.
   Every finished essay, every submitted app, every time I pressed "save" on a draft — those were victories. Don’t wait until an acceptance letter to feel proud.

Now that I’m in college, I volunteer as a peer advisor myself. When students come to me panicked about their applications, I tell them what Joanna told me: Start with your voice. That’s what they want to hear.

The college process isn’t just a rite of passage — it’s an awakening. And while it’s messy and overwhelming, it can also be transformative when you’re not doing it alone.

If you’re about to begin, remember this: You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be honest — and open to support. You’re building your future, and you deserve all the help you can get.