Don't let Thanksgiving food comas and holiday shopping frenzies get in your way of staying on top of applications. Applicants often find themselves in trouble by putting off important tasks between Thanksgiving and Christmas thinking that they have plenty of time to catch up. Make the most out of the next few weeks by using the following tips!

Prioritize Your Remaining Application Tasks: Identify any time sensitive tasks like having recommendations completed before your recommenders go on vacations. Also, determine which essays are going to require the most work and start on them now so that you have time for additional feedback and iterations.

Create a New Calendar: The calendar that you created a few months back when you had plenty of time to work on things is probably not an accurate representation of what's left on your plate. Now is the time to create a new calendar that reflects the prioritized tasks you identified. Make sure you hold yourself accountable to these new dates and don't underestimate the time commitments. Essays that require videos and PowerPoints always take longer than anticipated and it is impossible to predict all the other job and personal commitments that will creep into your schedule.

Identify Opportunities to Save Time: For example, reviewing essays across schools may identify common themes that can cut down on redundant essay brainstorming. Even those pesky mini-essays embedded in the application forms for each school often contain common information requests that can be quickly answered using a document that already has that information captured.

A little bit of planning will let you submit great applications while also getting to enjoy the holidays. If you'd like to learn how to better plan for your round 2 applications or strategies to maximize your time spent on applications, feel free to contact us!

Bhavik