Congratulations! Graduating from high school is a huge milestone, and you’ve made it. One chapter of your life is wrapped up, and you are about to dive into the next. For those planning to start college in the fall, you have numerous opportunities to make the most of your summer. Remember, this isn’t just any summer — it’s your summer.

When applying to colleges, most students tend to focus on grades and standardized test scores. While this is obviously important, admissions officers want to see more than strong GPAs and impressive SAT or ACT scores when evaluating prospective students.

Applying to college is a huge undertaking, with many things to consider—prepping for standardized tests, taking and excelling in the right high school courses, participating in meaningful extracurricular activities, crafting the perfect personal essay, and more. With all of this in mind, it’s easy to overlook another important component that can carry a lot of weight: the recommendation letters.

As the school year winds down, many juniors are setting their sights on college applications. While focusing on grades, standardized test scores, and extracurriculars is certainly important, there is one piece of the college application that can make a huge difference –– especially with the competition to get into schools being so high. That is essays. But just how important are they?

Many people think a college search and decision ends with acceptance into a university. But that’s not necessarily true. What happens when your chosen university has multiple colleges within it? This is the case with most large universities, which are divided into smaller colleges, schools, or departments. Each focuses on specific academic disciplines and opportunities.