The least stressful part of a college application is your personal information -- name, address, phone number, and, of course, your email address. Most colleges will want to communicate with you via email thanks to its convenience, speed, and low cost. Your email address will be placed on admissions distribution lists, and it will be front and center in your admissions file. If you are accepted, it will go to your first-year academic advisor and be entered into the college's software for financial aid, registration, housing, and so on.

So, a simple word of advice: if you don't have a professional-sounding email user name, get one before you apply to college. That email address is one of the first things that anyone at the college will see. Make sure it doesn't make a bad impression. Consider the following:

•wastedjeff@hostname
•skankyho@hostname
•iluvbieber@hostname
•sleepmaster@hostname
•yousuck@hostname
 

All of these addresses may have seemed funny among a close circle of high school friends, but think about the impression they will make in a college admissions office. Each one of these addresses could raise concerns in the mind of an admissions officer. Do you have an alcohol problem? Are you lazy? Are you rude?

Shoot for a user name that is simple and straight-forward:

•allen.grove@hostname
•grove846@hostname

There's no shortage of free email providers, so take a few minutes to clean up your electronic image before applying.