JUNIOR YEAR

1. Make a strong start in the classroom; remembering this will be your last full school year before you apply to college. Get the year started off on the right foot.
   
2. Plan to attend a College Night in the fall, if one is available in your area. Talk with a number of college representatives, discuss your personal interests and goals with them, and read through the college literature you pick up.
   
3. Review the PSAT Student Bulletin available in your guidance office. Register and take the PSAT at your school.
   
4. Plan to attend at least 3 college representative visits first semester (check with your guidance office).

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1. Continue your strong efforts in the classroom, and begin now to review the material that will be covered on your first semester finals.
   
2. Visit your school library and your school guidance office and look for college guidebooks and SAT or ACT prep materials.
   
3. During Winter Break, look through your ACT test preparation booklet (available from your guidance office), take a practice test, and perhaps ask your parents for an ACT or SAT review book or computer program. For test taking strategies, click here.
4. Register online for the January or March SAT, and the February or April ACT and spend some time preparing for the upcoming ACT and SAT tests (quickstart and skills insight are particularly good and free!). 

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JANUARY AND FEBRUARY

1. Continue your strong efforts in the classroom, remembering that colleges will look at your second semester grades very closely.
   
2. Run a college and financial aid computer search. Some good ones include: College Board, Princeton Review, Petersons and Collegeview.
   
3. Plan Spring Break college visits (if distance allows). For interviewing techniques, click here.

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MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY

1. Return to your study commitments with the same energy you expended having fun over Spring Break, remembering that your pattern of grades over the last two months of the junior year will be very important to colleges.
   
2. Draw up a list of the academic and non-academic programs and factors you are looking for in a college, and begin to develop a list of colleges that might be a good match for you, your goals, and your interests. Click here for Getting Started with your list.
   
3. Schedule a college planning conference with the guidance counselor in your high school. Bring with you your preliminary list of colleges and the list of characteristics you are seeking in a college. Discuss your goals and interests with your counselor. Be open to any advice offered. Remember the better this high school representative knows you, the better this person will be able to represent you when completing the counselor recommendation part of your application.
   
4. Get a good night's sleep the Friday nights before you take the ACT and SAT. Have a good breakfast and RELAX before taking the ACT and SAT tests.
   
5. Look up the colleges that interest you in the reference books recommended here, in the guidance office, and on the internet.
   
6. Consider taking the SAT Subject Tests: Subject Tests in May or June. Registration dates are on the bulletin in your guidance office.
   
7. Review your first ACT and SAT results, but don't overlook the subscores on both tests, which will help you understand how you performed on the different parts of the tests, and what parts you'll need to work on to improve your total scores. For test taking strategies, click here.
   
8. Schedule a second college planning conference, perhaps to include your parents (if this is possible at your school). Discuss summer plans.
   
9. Plan your senior year schedule of courses with the understanding that many colleges will look as closely at your program of study as at your grades.
   
10. Plan to spend at least one week of the coming summer visiting colleges (if possible). Begin yes, no, maybe boxes to sort out the increasing quantity of college mail you are receiving. Begin rough drafts of your college essay. For essay writing hints, click here.

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SENIOR YEAR

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

1. Make a strong start in the classroom, remembering that your fall semester grades will be very important for college admission.
   
2. Schedule a college conference to discuss your summer campus visits, your plans to re-take the SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests or TOEFL, and your current college list.
   
3. Request college recommendations from no more than two faculty members who you feel know you well. Discuss your college plans and goals with the teachers you ask for recommendations, and give them any recommendation forms provided by the colleges where you plan to apply. Be sure to thank them! If possible, it may be wise to choose a subject teacher who teaches the area in which you plan to major. Another idea is to have one recommendation representing English or Social Studies and the other Science or Math.
   
4. Sign up for the SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, or TOEFL Tests you plan to take in the fall by completing the registration online or through the mail. Make sure to have your test results sent directly from the testing company to your colleges. Check out test taking strategies.
   
5. Write to all the colleges you are still considering to request application forms, viewbooks, and catalogs, unless you already have them. Use email and college websites if you prefer.
   
6. Plan when you will make your last campus visits and arrange interviews with the admissions office where possible. For interviewing hints, click here.
   
7. Begin writing your college application essays. Check out the essay writing hints.
   
8. When you apply online, print out a copy of the application, review it well before sending it. For further hints on completing application, click here.
   
9. Attend a College Fair Program in your area, if possible. Be sure to introduce yourself to representatives of the colleges where you plan to apply. Draw up a list of questions to ask.
   
10. Meet with visiting college officials visiting your high school who represent colleges where you might apply.

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NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

1. Check carefully each application's deadline and be certain to submit it on or before this deadline. Colleges usually will not accept a late application and if they do it may hinder your chances of acceptance. Be sure to send in the appropriate application fee. For assistance with each application, click here.
   
2. Continue your strong efforts in the classroom and begin to review the material that will be covered on your first semester finals.
   
3. If you plan to apply for college financial aid, access a copy of the FAFSA and PROFILE, if applicable, as soon as they are available. For more information about financial aid, click here.
   
4. Check with each college where you apply about college scholarship programs. Most colleges have merit, athletic, special talent, and other types of scholarships, which do not take into account your family's ability to pay for college.
   
5. Check with the faculty members you've asked to write recommendations for you to see if they need further information.
   
6. Get a good night's sleep the Friday nights before you retake the SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and TOEFL Tests on the October, November, and or December test dates. Have a good breakfast and relax before taking the tests.

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JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH

1. Complete your last college application.
   
2. If you plan to apply for college financial aid, check with your parents to see that they have completed and mailed the necessary forms. The sooner these forms are completed the better your chances are for consideration.
   
3. Continue your strong efforts in the classroom, remembering that the colleges will get your first semester grades, and will review them closely.
   
4. Ward off the midwinter blues by keeping busy with your academic commitments, and begin thinking about your summer plans.
   
5. When you have completed and sent your college applications, relax and think about something other than college admissions, confident in the knowledge that you wrote strong applications and essays for a group of colleges that represent a good "match" or "fit" for you.

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APRIL AND MAY

1. Review your offers of college admission and financial aid with your parents. Think through the advantages and disadvantages of enrolling at the different colleges where you were admitted.
   
2. Schedule your last visits to colleges where you were admitted to help you make your final college decision. Which college represents the best possible "match" for you?
   
3. When you begin to receive word from colleges on the results of your applications, note carefully response deadlines. Most colleges subscribe to the Candidates Reply Date of May 1. If you have an earlier deadline, which represents a hardship because you have yet to hear from all your colleges, request an extension.
   
4. Make your final decision by May 1 and send the required forms and deposits.
   
5. When you have decided which college you will attend, write to each of the other colleges where you were accepted to thank them for admitting you, to decline their offer of admission, and to tell them where you plan to go to college.
   
6. Take the Advanced Placement exams for the AP or IB classes you took this year, and give them your best effort, knowing that strong scores may earn you valuable college credit.
   
7. Thank the many people, your parents included, who have supported and helped you through the college admissions process.

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