College Applications

**Most colleges open their applications on August 1st. It is recommended that you apply before October 31st.**

All seniors will apply to at least one college using GoApplyTexas.

My recommendation is that you apply to at least 3 colleges. When you choose colleges to apply to, keep the following things in mind:

  • Apply to Safe, Target, & Reach schools

    • Safe--a college you would enjoy as a back-up plan

    • Target--the college(s) you are interested in and meet the requirements for.

    • Reach--the college you really want to go to.

In-State colleges (goapplytexas.org), Out-of-state colleges (commonapp.org), Some schools have their own private applications.

  • Use the summer before your senior year to:

    • Research colleges you are interested in applying to

    • Learn the requirements for each of those schools

    • Perfect your Essay. ***Remember--Your essay should follow the either 20/80% or 30/70% rule. This means that 20-30% should be you telling the story about what happened and 70-80% should be you telling what you learned from that experience and how you will use that lesson in the future!***

GoApplyTexas Instruction Page

  1.  Go to goapplytexas.org

  2. Click on Get Started

  3. Sign Up using a username and password you will remember as well as an email address that is not your school email address.

  4. Go to that email and follow the instructions to verify your email address and then click continue

  5. Sign in using your username and password you just created

  6. Click Start/Edit Profile

    1. There are 10 pages of profile information you will need to enter:

      1. Name and Social Security number...click Save and go to page 2

      2. Date of birth, city of birth, country of birth, state of birth...click Save and go to page 3

      3. Are you a U.S. citizen; status as a current U.S. military service member, veteran, or dependent; are you Hispanic or Latino; racial category;  your gender...click Save and go to page 4

      4. Permanent Street Address, City, Country, Zip Code...Click to Verify Address...click Save and go to page 5

      5. Physical Street Address, City, Country, State, Zip Code...Click to Verify Address...click Save and go to page 6

      6. Preferred Phone Number, Preferred Phone Type...Click Save and go to page 7

      7. Emergency Contact Last Name, First Name, Phone Number...enter other information if you would like to...click Save and go to page 8

      8. High School, Expected Graduation Date...Enter other information if you would need to...click Save and go to page 9

      9. Answer College Questions...click Save and go to page 10

      10. Country, state, other resident questions...Click Save...Click Done...Click on the ApplyTexas logo in the top left corner to go back to the home page

  7. Click Start/Edit Applications

    1. Click Start a New Application

    2. Choose your School type, school name, application type, semester and whatever other information they ask

    3. Select choices and start application

  8. Follow the directions until you are at the point of submitting your application!!!

Once you have applied...what's next??

You will need to submit your official high school transcript to the college. The best/fastest way to do this is by requesting to have it sent electronically through the Parchment system that our high school uses. Log in to your SchooLinks account, click School, then Click Transcript Request. Click Send Official Transcript and search for the college you with to have your transcript sent to. The easiest way to do this is by selecting "College Address" and typing in your college name. Then select Send through Parchment or Mailing Address and enter the Office of Admission address. This will alert me and I will send your official transcript!