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For many teens, the summer is a time to work extra hours at your job, attend a summer program, vacation with family, or simply enjoy a respite from the hectic pace of the academic year.聽 While starting college applications over the summer may not be at the top of your list, we encourage rising seniors to make time to engage in a number of tried-and-true activities that will give you a much better chance of avoiding a potential meltdown during the frenetically paced autumn months that loom ahead.

So…should聽you start college applications in the summer?

Absolutely. The eight action steps you can take to get a jump-start on your college applications this summer are:

• Request letters of recommendation early
• Start filling out the Common App
• Complete the Common App essay
• Complete a few supplement essays
• Demonstrate interest in your prospective colleges
• Create an activities resume
• Study for standardized testing
• Develop a balanced college list (including safety schools)

Let’s get started:

1. Request Letters of Recommendation.

Separate yourself from the panicked masses who, in a few months鈥� time, will be begging their favorite teacher(s) to crank out a recommendation 48 hours before an application deadline. Recommenders will appreciate your proactive approach and may even utilize the extra time to write a more thoughtful, detailed letter. Additional tips include supplying your recommender with a resume (see tip #4) to better inform their testimonial as well as picking an individual who knows you intimately, rather than someone prominent who doesn鈥檛 know you at all (admissions officers see mountains of generic letters from elected officials signed in autopen).

For more on requesting a LOR, visit our blog on the subject: How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation for College.

2. Create a Common App Account and Write the Common App Essay.

The actually allows students to roll over an older account for the 2025-2026 application cycle, meaning that you can go ahead and create your account now, even though the 2025-26 application won鈥檛 technically launch until August 1.

Filling out the Common App is not particularly difficult but it is time-consuming. Accordingly, get a head start on inputting your personal information, educational history, and activities鈥攊t’s one of the best college application tasks to get ahead on during the summer.

3. Complete Your Common App Essay.

In addition, the Common App essay prompts for the 2025-26 admissions cycle are live, which means you can begin writing now. Of course, your first challenge is to brainstorm and pick a personal and compelling topic on which to write. Consider trying out a few different brainstorming exercises, like mind mapping or heart mapping. You can also use the Common App prompts themselves as brainstorming questions.

Bottom line: While reading your application, colleges want to know who you are and how you view the world. The essay may be your only chance to provide them with this type of insight, so it鈥檚 worth spending a fair amount of time crafting and refining your message. Starting in the summer ensures you have plenty of time to write the essay and take breaks from it when necessary.

Need some inspiration? Check out 10 Instructive Common App Essay Examples and 25 Inspiring Essay Topic Ideas.

4. Complete a Few Supplemental Essays.

If you know at least three schools to which you are definitely applying next fall, go ahead and start on any supplemental essays required by those institutions as well.

Common varieties of supplemental essays include:

• How to Write the Community Essay 鈥� Guide with Examples
• “Why This College?” Essay Examples
• How to Write the Why This Major Essay + Example

You can also check our College Admissions blog archive for advice on how to approach the specific prompts at 50+ top colleges.

5. Demonstrate Interest.

Carve out time to show your prospective colleges some love by demonstrating interest. 聽Trust us, with yield rates causing admissions officers many restless nights, making schools feel wanted can leave a favorable impression. Whether or not you were able to squeeze in a campus visit, there are plenty of virtual ways to demonstrate interest, including remote information sessions, an email to an admissions officer, a social media “like,” or a request for info through the university website. Colleges want great students, but they really want great students who are genuinely interested in attending their institution. (Keyword: “genuinely,” not “obsessive stalker”…)

Also, know that you can also demonstrate interest by writing highly personalized “Why This College?” essays (for schools that offer this prompt). Although you can’t actually start writing the essays until supplemental prompts are released on August 1, you can start doing casual research for the schools you’re applying to in June and July. What major(s) are you interested in, and why? Are there classes you hope to take? What on-campus programs would you like to get involved in? Creating a short list of reasons now can aid your essay efforts later.

6. Complete the Student Activities Resume.

When it comes to listing your extracurricular achievements, the goal is not to fill a single-spaced page in 6-point font with a record of every single action you鈥檝e ever taken as a human being. Admission officers are looking for depth over breadth and want to see evidence of leadership, commitment, and a flourishing passion that will carry over to their respective campuses. In other words, leave off that afternoon as a freshman when you attended a Model UN聽interest meeting, only to embarrassingly realize that it was not, as you assumed, a club for building miniature replicas of embassy buildings.

Instead, make a list of your most important activities and focus your energy on figuring out how to express your level of involvement and responsibility. Within the Common App form itself, you will have space to enter 10 activities. For each activity, you then only have 150 characters worth of space to describe your role (about two sentences). The activities list is frequently one of the most challenging components of the application, so plan on doing a few drafts. Need more help? Consult our detailed guide to Mastering the Activities List.

7. Study for Standardized Testing.

If you’ll be taking the SAT or ACT in the fall, use the summer months to hit the prep books. If you’ve already taken the exam, all the better! You can create a focused study plan based on your challenge areas. If you haven’t taken either exam, we’d suggest starting out with a mock or diagnostic test to get a feel for both options.

In addition to free and effective study options like Khan Academy and the College Board, there are also many excellent test prep tutors who offer everything from private tutoring to group classes and online self-paced platforms. Check out our list of the Best ACT and SAT Tutors here.

8. Finalize your College List.

Developing your college list can be much more challenging than it sounds. It鈥檚 easy to get caught up dreaming about one鈥檚 top-choice school, yet it鈥檚 important to have not just multiple irons in the fire but the right irons (all you blacksmiths out there know what I鈥檓 talkin鈥� about!). Remember that admission to Ivy and other uber-selective colleges can never be taken for granted, so, even if you are one of the top students in your high school class, you鈥檒l need to diversify that portfolio. Also, make sure to pick at least one financial safety school in case you end up on the short end of the merit aid chase. For a detailed look at the college list creation process, revisit our previous blog on the subject: How Many Colleges Should I Apply To?

One important point that we emphasize in that college list blog but want to repeat here is as follows: You should spend as much time researching, contacting, and visiting your safety schools as you do with your top choices. Your safety school should have many of the same attributes as your dream schools and target schools. They should offer your major of interest and have solid programs with modern facilities, dedicated faculty, extracurricular offerings, etc.

Final Thoughts 鈥� Should You Start College Applications in the Summer?

Rising seniors — try your best to enjoy this final K-12 summer break. Relish the opportunity to enjoy a late breakfast while taking the time to relax without any classes to attend. However, if you can also spare a few hours here and there to work on the above activities, you will thank yourself in just a few short months, when the inevitable stress of September re-enters your life.