A Guide for Seniors (and Parents) Entering the College Application Season

Brennan Barnard is the Director of College Counseling at The Forest School and co-author of multiple books on college admissions. He has worked nationally with schools, families, and colleges to reimagine how students tell their stories through applications.

Tyler Thigpen is the Co-Founder and Head of The Forest School. With a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard, he is a national voice in self-directed learning and innovation in education.

If you are a rising senior or the parent or caregiver of one, this fall marks the beginning of an exciting—and sometimes overwhelming—season: applying to college. The Common App and other applications are open, deadlines are coming, and questions abound. What should go into the application? How do you tell your story? How do you balance strategy with authenticity?

Here are the key takeaways, mindsets, strategies, and tasks that seniors and families should keep in mind, drawn from our director of college counseling Brennan Barnard’s August 2025 Common App webinar and our follow-up discussion with Forest School heroes and parents.

Mindsets That Matter

First and foremost, treat the application not as a form but as a storytelling tool. Each section—your profile, family background, education, activities, essays—is a chapter in your story. Instead of seeing the Common App as limiting, ask: What do I want colleges to know about me, and how can I use this platform to share it?

Authenticity matters more than volume. Five meaningful activities or achievements will always outweigh ten padded or shallow ones. Colleges are reading applications in context—within the opportunities your school provided, not against someone else’s high school across the country.

Resist the race to “stack” APs or dual enrollment courses. At Forest, caps are intentional, rooted in health, balance, and deep learning. Admissions officers affirm this approach. Flourishing matters more than over-scheduling.

Strategies for Each Section of Common App

Profile

  • Use your full legal name consistently across transcripts, test scores, and applications.

  • Include your Social Security Number if applying for federal aid (so FAFSA and Common App link).

  • Race/ethnicity questions remain, but admissions officers will not see this data during review.

Family & Education

  • Collect parents’ degrees, occupations, and contact details ahead of time.

  • If you’ve switched schools (e.g., from FSO to in-person Forest), use the space provided to explain why. Keep it simple and direct.

  • Submit any college transcripts for dual enrollment courses to Brittany (TFS in-person) or Chrissy and Eliza (FSO). These get uploaded to Scoir alongside your Mastery Transcript.

Honors

  • This section is for academic honors only. Avoid acronyms—spell everything out.

  • Don’t worry if it feels sparse; Forest’s mastery model prioritizes deep, narrative-based learning. Include contests, awards, or recognitions if relevant.

Activities

  • You have up to 10 slots—use only those that are meaningful.

  • Order them by importance, not chronology.

  • Avoid abbreviations. Use strong active verbs. “Led weekly coding club sessions” is stronger than “Coding club.”

  • Family responsibilities and hobbies count—caring for siblings or building film reels can show just as much commitment as formal clubs.

  • Aim for accurate, not perfect, estimates of hours/weeks.

  • Colleges ask which activities you want to continue in college—be thoughtful here.

Essay & Writing Opportunities

  • The personal essay is your chance to tell a story, not list a résumé.

  • The new “Challenges and Circumstances” question is optional—use it only if something significantly impacted your learning or life. Don’t force it.

  • The “Additional Information” section (now capped at 300 words) should expand on something important that doesn’t fit elsewhere. Don’t be redundant.

Mastery Transcript & Featured Evidence

  • Highlight your five most compelling pieces of evidence—quests, apprenticeships, best work.

  • Don’t assume every admissions officer will dig deeply into the Mastery Transcript. Include key points on the Common App too.

  • Forest sends a high school profile with every application to help colleges understand mastery-based learning.

Tasks and Timelines

Now (August–September)

  • Complete the profile, family, and education sections.

  • Draft activities in a Word/Google Doc to refine with feedback before pasting into the Common App.

  • Start (or continue) essay drafts.

  • Seniors at Forest/FSO: complete the pre-meeting survey about your best work, impactful quests, and apprenticeships before your upcoming counseling meetings.

September–October

  • Take or retake standardized tests if needed.

  • Narrow college lists with the help of Scoirs PrinciplesYou assessment, which links interests and aptitudes to colleges.

  • Ask for recommendation letters early.

October–November

  • Submit Early Action/Early Decision applications if applicable.

  • Refine supplemental essays.

December–January

  • Submit regular decision applications.

  • Double-check that transcripts (Forest, college dual enrollment) and recommendations are uploaded to Scoir.

Parents’ and Caregivers’ Role

Parents should be partners, not project managers. Support your child in gathering family details and proofreading drafts, but resist the temptation to “take over.” The most powerful applications are student-driven.

At the same time, communicate consistently with school leadership to manage expectations about studio advancement, transcripts, and timelines. Colleges want to see a student’s authentic voice—not a polished product written by adults.

Final Advice

Applying to college is less about checking boxes and more about sharing who you are. If you bring clarity, authenticity, and self-reflection to this process—and pace yourself with the right timeline—you will put forward an application that tells your story well.

And remember: colleges are not looking for a magic number of APs, dual enrollments, or honors. They’re looking for evidence of curiosity, commitment, and growth. They’re looking for your passions and what you’ve done to pursue them. Seniors—this is your chance to show them.

Tyler Thigpen