Avoid These 5 Mistakes Students Make in Application Portals

Winter Break is here and the final round of college application deadlines are less than a month away! When the pressure is on and Regular Decision deadlines seem imminent, it might feel like you need to complete your application materials as quickly as possible, especially when it comes to application portals. However, it is crucial that you take your time when providing your information in portals and carefully review all responses to confirm that you are ready to hit submit. 

In this blog post, we’ll cover 5 key mistakes that students often make in application portals, why they should be avoided, and what you can do to ensure your application is ready for successful submission. 

1. Misspelling and inconsistent formatting in responses. 

No matter which portal you use—Common App, Coalition, the University of California, and/or MIT—there is a massive amount of personal, academic, and extracurricular information colleges will require you to share. This includes various dates, course names and grades, parent backgrounds, essay responses, and more. Students will sometimes input information too quickly and make mistakes that could not only reflect poorly on their application, but also lead to their application being misdirected due to inconsistent info. It’s crucial that you carefully review everything you input into portals and double check spelling and formatting. The preview tool can be very helpful to proofread and verify all reported content.

2. Disadvantageous responses to optional prompts.

It’s important that you understand when you should and should not respond to prompts that are marked as optional. While B2A recommends students take advantage of spaces like the Additional Information section and upload optional documents like a resume when allowed, you should always be thoughtful and intentional when considering whether to answer optional prompts. When you respond to a prompt that isn’t required but reveals a weaker point in your profile, you are unnecessarily providing admissions officers with details that detract from your application. For example, if you don't have additional responsibilities that contribute to your family's livelihood (working to pay bills, serving as a caretaker for chronically ill relatives, etc.), you should not expand on those optional responses. Additionally, if there are prompts that are meant for a certain type of applicant, like international students, domestic students should avoid providing a response.

3. Not taking advantage of opportunities to highlight positive information.

On the other hand, you should be sure to take advantage of opportunities to provide beneficial information or helpful context for aspects of your application. This means you should use optional school-specific essay prompts and the Additional Information section to provide details of activities or circumstances that are not reflected elsewhere in your application. For example, if you have an off-block during one or both semesters of senior year, you can use this space to explain how you’re expanding on a research project you started in the summer or how you're pursuing college-level coursework in your area of interest. This can give admissions officers a better idea of how you spend your time or an explanation for any extenuating circumstances that you’ve experienced.

4. Providing inconsistent information.

Students often report inconsistent or inaccurate information related to the size of their household, family income, and parents’ work and education. If colleges are unsure about these details, they don’t have the necessary context to assess your application. B2A recommends that you fill out these sections with your parent(s) to ensure complete accuracy. 

5. Delaying invitation of recommenders and failing to follow up before deadlines

Recommendations are an important, and often required, component of applications that should not be ignored until the last minute. Ideally, you should already have invited all of your recommenders, including your teachers and outside recommenders. If not, it is crucial that you invite your recommenders as soon as possible and confirm your college goals and admissions plans with them. Strong recommendations can truly elevate your application—from affirming major-related skills to attesting to your personal character and highlighting soft skills that aren’t seen elsewhere in your application. If you haven’t already, invite your recommenders now. If they are invited but haven’t been submitted, make sure you follow up with them as soon as possible to allow for your application to be complete before submission deadlines.

If you need an extra pair of eyes on your application portals to ensure that you don’t make these kinds of critical mistakes, Berkeley² Academy can help! Our expert college admissions counselors are prepared to review all of your application materials to verify that they are ready for submission. 

For rising seniors, our Gateway Program will walk you through every step of the admissions process next year—including filling out all application portals. Students will complete applications for five schools and receive unlimited feedback on all admissions materials. 

If you’re a student in grades 7-11 who wants to make sure that you’re on the right track, B2A’s Steps Program is the perfect next step for you. You’ll meet with your best-fit counselor in two monthly meetings to review your academic status, assess extracurricular progress, and receive important insight into what you can do to prepare for the competitive road to college admissions. 

Contact Berkeley² Academy today to see how we can help!