Run your kid’s college application campaign without missing a deadline

  1. Create the master tracking board with one lane per school
    45 min

    What you produce: a single board that shows every school, its deadline set, and the status of every required component — all visible at a glance.

    The main decision is choosing a tool you will both actually check — agree on it together before anything is built.

    Choose the tool:

    • Google Sheets — free, familiar, sorts well. Best if you both already use Google Workspace.
    • Trello — kanban boards, good for visual status tracking. Free tier covers unlimited cards.
    • Notion — database, kanban and calendar views in one. Good for all-in-one setups.
    • Airtable — spreadsheet-database hybrid with attachments, checkboxes and dropdowns.

    A shared Google Sheet is simple and free; Trello, Notion or Airtable let you drag cards between status columns and attach files inline.

    Build the board:

    1. Name it “[Student Name] College Applications [Year]”.
    2. Create one row or card per school.
    3. Add columns: School Name, Decision Type, Application Deadline, Supplement Deadline, Testing Policy, Recommendations, Transcript, Essays, Portfolio, FAFSA, CSS Profile, Scholarship/Aid, Submission Confirmation.
    4. Add a master Status column: Not Started / In Progress / Ready to Submit / Submitted / Confirmed Received.
    5. Share with your student with edit permissions.

    Keep the board open in a pinned browser tab or mobile bookmark.

    Everything in later phases — every requirement, date and submission — gets entered here first. It is the single source of truth for the entire campaign.