If you are a high school junior who made a New Year’s resolution to start college planning in earnest, here are ten things you can be doing:
- Do your best in your classes and extracurricular activities.
- Plan your summer. Consider a job, a learning experience, and/or a volunteer activity.
- Select challenging classes that interest you for your senior year of high school.
- Prepare for and take the SAT or ACT.
- Determine what you are looking for in a college: academically, socially and financially.
- Discuss with your parents how much money is available for college.
- Build a balanced list of colleges that meet your needs and that which is affordable for your family.
- Research and visit the colleges on your list, virtually or in person.
- Write your Common App essay after the prompts are announced, typically in January or February.
- Make a list of your extracurricular activities, volunteer activities, jobs, and hobbies that you spend time on regularly starting with the summer after 8th grade. Include any leadership positions you held, the number of hours per week and weeks per year you spent on the activity, and in what grades you participated in the activity.
If you need assistance in any of these, feel free to reach out to me.