It’s College Application Season!

By Harshan Heer
Copy Editor | The Pacific Times

With application deadlines approaching, seniors are submitting essays, test scores, and information about their extracurricular activities to colleges and universities across the country.

Here’s everything you need to know when applying this fall. 

NP3 High School class of 2025 graduate Alex Lao, currently attending UC Davis for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, created a list of tips for writing strong college essays: Tips for Writing Strong College Essays.

“For pacing, I think everyone knows their own working and procrastination habits the best, so they should know how long they need to write the essays,” said Lao. “A suggestion I have is to spend about one month just brainstorming and thinking about what examples and parts of your personality you want to show.”

Each college has its own unique procedures in the application process. The University of California is a major public university system with 10 separate campuses. Applying to the campuses is done through the same portal, which allows applicants to select the campus they would like to apply to. The same application will be submitted to the selected campuses. It consists of personal background information, inputting of grades, four personal insight questions (PIQs), and a chance to list up to twenty activities. The application fee is $80 per campus. 

“Your PIQs are free range for you to brag and express your niche interests that you have pursued over the years. This includes courses you have taken, self-studying, personal projects, impressive talents, etc. Your college essays should present your idiosyncrasies. Your words ought to have glimpses of your personality. Your essays should be inspiring and impressive to those who read them,” said Tayeb Rahman, another class of 2025 graduate from NP3, who is currently attending Princeton University for Computer Science. “For safe measure, start one month or three weeks before the due date.” 

The deadline for the UC application is Dec. 1, 2025. For more information on this process, visit the University of California website: Filling out the Application | UC Admissions. 

NP3 High counselor Lindsay Ulrich said, “the amount of colleges a student chooses to apply to is personalized. Some students want to just go to just arc—so they will apply only there, but a good range is typically four to eight schools. People applying to California State Universities and UCs should at least apply to four schools each, using the most out of fee waivers. You can apply to as many reach schools as you want, as long as you have your targets and safeties. Everyone is different, but you should apply to at least one reach cause you never really know what could happen.”

Many public and selective private colleges across the United States accept applications through the Common App, an online application platform that allows students to complete one application for multiple colleges. Common App requires one, 650 word essay that will be submitted to the selected colleges. It accepts up to five awards and 10 activities. 

Ronika Sidhu, a NP3 class of 2025 graduate studying mechanical engineering at UC Davis, advises seniors to, “start your application early, it’s less stressful when you have a lot of time to revise.

“Don’t stress too much about which school you get accepted to or rejected from, you will end up where you belong in the end,” said Sidhu. “Asking friends to look over your application can help you fix things you wouldn’t have otherwise noticed.” 

For the Common App, each university can ask additional college-specific writing questions called “Supplemental Essays.” Deadlines for Common App applications are not standardized for each college like UC is. Most private and public institutions range their regular decision deadline from early to mid January, and early action/decision deadlines within October and November. Most colleges charge an application fee typically between $30-$75. Students may create an account on this website: https://www.commonapp.org/. 

Questbridge is another application platform for various private and public universities across the United States that is specifically “designed to connect high-achieving low-income high school students with top colleges and universities,” as the Questbridge website states. It provides resources like the National College Match | QuestBridge, which can lead to early admission and full, four-year scholarships from partner schools. Last year, NP3 had two Questbridge scholars. It was the second year in a row NP3 had them. The submission deadline for fall of 2026 is Nov. 5, 2025. 

Applying to a California State University (CSU) involves creating an account with personal academic details, work/extracurricular information, and paying a per campus fee of $70. Like UC, a single Cal State Apply application is sent to selected CSU campuses. There are 23 campuses across California, with the priority application deadline for the application being Nov. 30, 2025. An account can be created on the website: One Application. Every Opportunity. | CSU. Most private colleges require letter of recommendations for both the Common App and Questbridge portals but not for UC’s and CSU’s. 

Ulrich said that the main thing they want when students ask for a letter of recommendation is time. 

“Make sure you give us two weeks, preferably a month, with your brag sheet before the application deadline. We want an email requesting the letter instead of just adding us as recommenders to Common App and let us know where you are applying. A thorough senior brag sheet with many details gives us more insight about you outside of school,” Ulrich added. 

“Sometimes it will take a whole day just to write one sentence, and sometimes it will take one hour to write a whole paragraph. Also, don’t be afraid of acceptance rates. Perhaps admission officers see you as incredible, even if you don’t believe it yourself,” Rahman added.

Most community colleges operate on a rolling admissions basis, with no specified application deadline. Applications typically consist of academic information, required documents, and are submitted directly through the college’s website. Community colleges offer a variety of transfer programs and agreements, such as Transfer Admission Guarantees (TAG) to specific four-year institutions, or completing the Intersegmental General Education Course Transfer Curriculum (IGETC). 

“Start applications early, give yourself time,” said Ulrich. “Chunking out time each day, even ten minutes a day, and slowly working on your application instead of sitting and working on it for hours in a day is more effective for progress,” NP3 High counselor Navjot Hayer added. “Attend our workshops. Us counselors are here to help you through the process. You can always come meet with us to help you. For underclassmen, don’t wait until your senior year to get your gpa up, work on it throughout high school.”

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opened this year on November 24 and will close on June 30. It is a form that students may apply for to receive financial aid for college or career school. Aid is provided by the U.S. Department of Education, and it is used to determine a student’s eligibility for federal aid programs including: grants, work-study funds, and loans. 

There is a common misconception that applying early can result in an extra grant awarded in FAFSA aid called “bonus grants.” In reality, FAFSA is a broad category of financial aid and an “early bird discount” does not exist. However, financial aid is limited and applying late can result in receiving little aid. 

Aid is determined based on income and cost of attendance per school. According to the official FAFSA website, “Your Student Aid Index (SAI) is a formula-based index number ranging from –1500 to 999999. Where your SAI falls within the SAI range helps your school determine how much financial support you may need. ” Another misconception is that individuals only apply once. FAFSA must be completed every year in order to receive aid for the following academic year for each year of attendance. Students may apply through this link: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa.