A.I. CounselorA.I. Counselor educates on how to stand out in high school, the college admissions process, and beyond.

Your Email Matters: Avoid THIS for College Applications! #shorts

12 Sept 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:00

In this YouTube short, the A.I. COUNSELOR emphasizes the importance of using a professional email address when applying to college. The speaker shares an anecdote about an applicant who used a whimsical email (beachvolleyballqueen07@aol.com) and notes that all critical communications from universities—admission decisions, financial aid deadlines, and requests for additional documents—are sent to that address. The counselor advises students to adopt a simple, name‑based email (e.g., firstname_lastname@gmail.com) for all official correspondence, reserving fun or informal email handles for casual use only. This single step is presented as a crucial, low‑effort way to ensure clear, professional communication with admissions officers.

Chapters

Now let's get into the meat and potatoes. Step one of the actual application: pick an email address. Yes, this sounds like nothing. It is not nothing. I've personally seen an application come through our office from—I'll change it slightly—to protect the innocent or guilty beachvolleyballqueen07@aol.com. I'm sure she's in fact a beach volleyball queen. I believe her. But every single piece of the UC correspondence— decisions, financial aid deadlines, hey, we need one more document or you're not getting in— goes to that email address. So here's the rule: use a version of your actual name, like firstname_lastname@gmail. That's it. That's the whole trick. Save the fun email handle for group chats, for Grandma, but not for the people deciding your next 4 years of your life. Okay.