A legendary former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said: “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” These are words of true wisdom that we just cannot afford to ignore. He thought that effective preparation was the key to victory in sports, and this strategy worked nicely as he led his teams to stunning triumphs and numerous titles. However, in addition to sports, this approach works well in many other areas, including college acceptance.

Simply explained, this famous quote suggests that the earlier you begin, the better your chances of achieving your goal – getting into a great college – might be. Indeed, knowing when to start getting ready for this epic journey is important. If you haven’t started the preparation, read further.

To get into the college you want, you need to start by gathering information about your accomplishments, strengths, and unique traits. All this information can assist you greatly when you’ll be applying to become a student. If you begin early, you’ll have more time to develop your interests and hone your skills. If that sounds reasonable to you, we can proceed to what you should be doing to ensure that your application has a high chance of getting noticed.

To succeed, you need to understand the big picture. What’s the big picture here? Well, for example, in addition to considering your college options, you also have to pay attention to letters of recommendation, interviews, GPA, resumes, and many others things. To make sure you follow a structured strategy, take a look at the infographic created by educational experts from Assignmenthelper.com.au below. It can be used as a checklist for all things you need to do to get accepted into college.

There are twelve areas described in the infographic (plus a bonus one!). Yes, each one of them is equally important and require maximum effort on your part. Just think about it: you’ll have to compete against thousands of other people. Since the percentage of students applying to seven and more colleges has dramatically increased, don’t think that the competition is easy. Getting accepted to college is a marathon rather than a sprint, so you’ll have to pay close attention to everything. Your preparation, in turn, defines whether you’ll be a leader or a loser in this competition.

Ready? Without further ado, here is a completely essential guide to getting accepted into college without unnecessary panic and frustration.

Lucy Benton is a writing coach, an editor who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger. She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. If you’re interested in working with Lucy, you can find her on FaceBook.