College logistics
Organize college application materials by requirement
Build one table per school from the instructions you have. Each required material gets a row, with the school page that states it and the date attached to it. Anything you cannot trace to a school page stays marked unconfirmed.
A text to start with
I am applying to [school names] for [entry term]. Below is the text I copied from each school's application instructions, with the page address and the date I copied it: [pasted instructions and links]. Build a table per school with these columns: required material, required or optional as written, source page, due date as written, and status. Leave a cell blank when the text does not say. Do not guess which requirements apply to me.
Example request. Change the details to fit your situation.Application materials tracker
School: [ ] Entry term and application round: [ ] Applicant group this applies to, as the school words it: [ ] Required material: [ ] Required or optional, per the school: [ ] Official page address: [ ] Date I read the page: [ ] Due date as written: [ ] Time zone stated, if any: [ ] Who supplies it (me, school, recommender, other): [ ] Status: [not started / in progress / submitted / confirmed received] Question for the admissions office: [ ] Answer and date received: [ ]
Where these tables go wrong
A school may give different dates for different applicant groups, rounds or materials, so one deadline per school can be wrong. Check that each date sits next to the group it was written for. Optional and required items can share a paragraph, and a summary may merge them. Pasted text goes stale, so record when you copied each page. Test scores, recommendations and fee waivers may have their own rules, which only the school's page can settle. Mark instructions that came from a third party as secondhand.
Ask another agent to check the result
Check this table and flag every due date or requirement that has no current school page beside it. Also flag any row where a deadline written for one applicant group may have been applied to another. List each flag with its row. Do not fill gaps from memory.
Confirm each blank against the school
Open each school's current application page and fill every blank cell with the wording found there, plus the date you checked. If a requirement is unclear or seems to depend on your situation, write the question down and send it to the admissions office. Sort the finished table by due date, and set your own working targets earlier than the school's dates.