Extensions

As you continue your college search, the most important question to consider may be: When is the application deadline?

After all, a late application can hurt your admission chances to many schools.

Others won't even look at it.

The spreadsheet you created in Google Sheets can help you manage important dates and deadlines, such as: campus tour dates, early admission application deadlines, regular admission application deadlines, scholarship application deadlines, and financial aid procedures.

In this extension, you will add information to your spreadsheet about regular admission deadlines.

Every college has its own application deadlines.

Early applications generally are submitted in the fall.

Some early application plans are binding.

This means that a student who is accepted early must attend the college.

Other types are non-binding.

This means that students receive an early response to their application but do not have to commit to the college until the regular reply date.

Regular application deadlines normally are in January or February.

These applications follow the normal process by which students apply by each school's published deadline.

Admissions decisions are received in the spring.

In this extension, you will sort deadlines in your spreadsheet to easily see which ones come first.

This will help you plan ahead to get your application in on time.

To begin, go to Google Drive, and open your college information spreadsheet.

There might only be three schools listed in your spreadsheet.

However, it's possible that your spreadsheet, or one you work on in the future, could include many more colleges.

Long spreadsheets with lots of data can be difficult to view and understand.

To keep key details easily visible, condense the column widths in your spreadsheet.

Then, wrap the text.

These steps let you see all of the columns at once, even after you add new ones.

Now, label a column for regular admission deadlines.

Bold your new header, and wrap the text if it isn't already.

You can also add columns and column headings for dates of college tours, early admission applications, and more as you work through the research process for each college on your list.

Next, search for information to fill out the application deadlines for each of your colleges.

You can find many answers on the school websites.

For application deadlines, look in the "Admissions" section.

Or, search for college name and application deadlines.

Once you find a college's deadline, add it to your spreadsheet.

Then, repeat this process for all of the schools in your spreadsheet.

Now, format the column as "date." This formats every date you entered consistently, even if you typed them in different formats.

Sort from A to Z to see the regular application deadlines in order of first to last.

Good work! Clearly sorting these important deadlines in your spreadsheet will help you manage your time during the application process.

In addition to using the skills you learned in this extension to sort college information, you also can track event information for a club you're a part of, alphabetize a spreadsheet of your contacts, or organize your class assignments by their deadline.

Now, it's your turn: open your spreadsheet in Google Drive, condense column widths and wrap the text, add a column for regular admission deadlines, add and label additional columns for any other information you want to add to your spreadsheet, research and fill in the deadline of each college, format deadlines as dates, and sort from A to Z.

The college application process can be complex.

Each school has its own list of requirements that you will need to keep track of and include with your application.

In this extension, you will add a new sheet to your spreadsheet to organize required application materials for each school.

These materials may include: high school transcripts, standardized test scores, essays you write, letters of recommendation, your resume, and other supporting materials.

High school transcripts are official records from your school.

They include your grades and GPA.

You can get your transcript from your guidance counselor or school registrar.

Standardized college admission tests are given and scored in a consistent way.

Some schools will only accept the SAT; others may want both the SAT and ACT.

There are others that don't require standardized tests at all.

Every school is different, so do your research.

Know what tests you need to take, and be sure to submit the score on time.

The "essay" is an opportunity to talk about yourself, discuss an issue that's important to you, or write creatively.

Letters of recommendation give college admissions officers more information about your character.

They may be written by your guidance counselor, a teacher, an employer, a coach, or other individuals.

Lastly, some schools might want you to submit a resume.

This can provide information on jobs or internships you've helped and also illustrate your level of involvement and commitment in your school and community.

Keeping these materials organized in your spreadsheet will help you stay on task and ensure that you have a complete application submitted on time.

To begin, go to Google Drive, and open your spreadsheet.

Add a new sheet to organize your supporting materials in a new sheet.

Name your new sheet "Supporting Materials." Now, return to your original sheet.

Highlight the entire "College" column and copy it.

Then, return to your "Supporting Materials" sheet, and paste it into column A.

Great! Now your college list is also in your new sheet.

Next, open a new browser tab and research the application requirements for each college.

Go to "google.com." Then, type the name of a school and "application requirements." Review the list of materials on the college's website.

Add the items listed for each school in the row for that college.

Then, continue researching and adding supporting materials for all of the schools on your list.

You will find that many of the materials and requirements are the same for each college, but some are different.

It's okay if the items in your spreadsheet are in a random order.

Just be sure to list everything, so you can check off items later when you're putting together your applications.

Great job completing the supporting materials information in your college spreadsheet.

Having this information clearly organized will help you submit complete, timely applications.

The digital tools you learned in this extension also can help you research and organize information for a book report, recipes for a meal you want to prepare for friends and family, or instructions for using different electronics or household tools.

Now, it's your turn: open your spreadsheet in Google Drive, add a new sheet, and name it "Supporting Materials," copy and paste the College column in your new sheet, wrap the text, and research application requirements for each college, and add them to your sheet.

Choosing the best college degree for you depends on numerous factors, including the career you want, the subjects that interest you most, and the quality of life you hope to have.

In this extension, you will narrow down your degree choices to focus on the colleges that offer the degree you want.

There are many different types of undergraduate degrees.

"Associate degrees" are, for full-time students, two-year-long programs.

They include associate of arts, associate of science, associate of applied arts, and associate of applied science.

They prepare you for entry-level positions in many different fields.

Bachelor's degrees are four-year programs, for those attending school full time.

There are bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, bachelor of fine arts, and bachelor of applied science degrees.

If you are unsure of what type of degree to pursue, first ask yourself: What classes do you enjoy most?

And: what type of career do you picture having?

Then, consider setting up an appointment with a school guidance counselor, if you have one.

They can give you lots of useful information on degrees and careers.

This example will focus on a bachelor of science degree.

If you have a different degree type in mind, use that instead.

To begin, go to Google Drive, and open your spreadsheet.

The original example project had three schools, but you might have more.

Then, create a filter.

"Filtering" shows only the information that fits a particular criteria.

Filter colleges from your list that don't offer the type of degree you plan to pursue.

Highlight the "Degree Type" column.

Select filter tool.

And filter by values.

Clear the current values, then select any value that includes bachelor of science or your chosen degree type.

Great! Now, the information in your spreadsheet is filtered by degree type.

This is a simple way to view only the colleges that offer the degree type you want.

To remove the filter to show all of the schools on your list, simply select the filter and select all values again.

Now, it's your turn: open your spreadsheet in Google Drive, select the filter tool, clear current values, and select a filter for bachelor of science.

When it's time to narrow down your college choices, you will need to decide which criteria are most important to you.

Perhaps a particular major offered by the school is your number-one criteria.

Or maybe the quality of the campus is essential to you.

Whatever criteria you choose, Google Sheets can help you make the data in that column more clear and useful, so you can compare options and make an informed decision.

To begin, go to Google Drive, And open your college information spreadsheet.

In this example, distance from home is the most important criteria.

Currently, the information here is inconsistently phrased and, therefore, a little confusing.

To begin simplifying the data, highlight the entire column.

Then, split the text into columns.

This separates text in one column into two.

In this instance, the split happens at the comma.

Text can also be split into columns at other separators, such as spaces or semicolons.

Splitting text into columns is a useful tool for splitting up a lot of text into more manageable chunks.

Now you can clearly see driving and flying lengths in order to help you identify which schools are a reasonable distance away from your home.

Perhaps you only wanna go to a college that is located within a four-hour drive of your home.

Go through your spreadsheet, and highlight the schools that fit that criteria.

Select the entire row, and use the fill color tool to turn those rows blue.

This makes it easy to see which schools fall within your specified distance from home.

Continue doing this for all of the colleges that are no more than four hours away.

Good job! You have narrowed down your potential schools.

Use the tools you learned in this extension to separate people's names from their contact information in a mailing list or split cars you're researching from their make and model.

Now, it's your turn: Go to Google Drive, and open your spreadsheet, split text to columns to clean up the data, and use fill color to turn rows blue for any colleges that meet your criteria.

The college application process can be overwhelming.

You may worry about which colleges to apply to, how to complete numerous applications and essays, if you will be accepted, and much more.

Keeping college information in a spreadsheet can help you stay organized and calm during this stressful time.

Google sheets tools, such as data validation, make things even simpler for you.

In this extension, you will learn how to use data validation to keep track of your college applications and ensure you turn in everything on time.

Data validation controls the text or other value that is entered into a cell.

To begin, go to Google Drive, And open your spreadsheet.

You may have already included a column for application deadlines in a previous extension.

If not, take a few minutes now to research the deadlines for each school.

Add that information in column G.

If you don't have time to research all of the schools on your list right now, that's okay.

Find the information for three of them, and then continue.

You can always go back and fill in the rest later.

Now, to the right of that column, type the header "Application Status," make sure it's bold.

This column will indicate whether a college application is not yet started, in progress, or submitted.

However, rather than typing in this text over and over again, you will use data validation to create a pull-down menu with the three options.

This provides a clear visual way of tracking your application progress.

Next, select the entire column, and choose data validation.

Select "List of items" as your criteria.

In the field, type the different application statuses that you want to appear in your pull-down menu.

Separate them with commas.

Then save.

Use the pull-down menu to update your progress on each application.

Notice that the header has an error message.

This appears because the data validation was applied to the entire column, including the header.

To fix this, click the first cell in the column, and select data validation again.

Remove the data validation from the column heading.

Nice work! Now you can save time and keep your data organized when tracking your college applications.

Data validation also can be helpful for quickly and easily indicating whether or not a particular major or degree is offered by the colleges on your list.

Practice adding it in those columns as well.

Now, it's your turn: go to Google Drive, and open your spreadsheet, insert a new column for "Application Status," apply data validation as a list of items, and, remove data validation from the header row.

Once you have made significant progress with your college research, you may want to share what you've discovered with people who can help with your college decision.

For example, if you have a school counselor, they might have advice to give about the schools you've selected.

You also might want to include family, friends, coaches, or teachers in your decision-making process and college evaluations.

To begin, go to Google Drive, And open your spreadsheet.

Now, select "Share." Enter the name or email address in the field.

Select the permission you want to use.

"Edit" means the person you share with can make changes directly in the spreadsheet.

"Comment" allows them to make comments, but not edit the script.

"View" lets them see your spreadsheet only.

Give the person permission to comment so you can get their feedback on your college spreadsheet.

Include a note letting them know about your college research and inviting them to share their feedback.

They will receive an email inviting them to comment on your spreadsheet.

Great work sharing your research with others who can help you make the best possible college decision.

Now, it's your turn: Go to Google Drive, and open your spreadsheet, and share your spreadsheet for feedback.