Colleges won't make an admissions decision about you if they don't have everything they need, so you may want to follow up with schools to make sure they have all your paperwork. If you don't receive postal or electronic notification that your application is complete, check your colleges' Web sites or call to ask about the status of your application.

During mid-winter and early spring, colleges are often still awaiting mid-year high school grade reports, a teacher recommendation letter, an official SAT/ACT report, or other various forms. You may need to do some careful prodding of others to make sure your application moves forward.