This so easy to do
you buy the student membership,
you will get an email to active your product (around 3-5 hours after u bought the memebership)
you log in and activate your product
fax them your student ID and your course schedule
wait 24 hours
go to connect.apple.com log in using ur info
on the bottom right click history
if it shows ADC student membership (pending) in the brackets then your membership is good to go, you an go to ADC store and get your laptop
so more or less once u see your student status (pending) in history section then you know it's accepted and it's been approved and ur good to go
buy your laptop and enjoy