Summer vacation is right around the corner, but it’s not time for vacation for juniors going into their senior year of high school. Why not? Because it’s never too early to start applying to colleges.
Think about it. Some application deadlines will be as early as November 15. If you start school in September, have a full load of courses, and want to take part in important activities like homecoming, time will be short for doing everything that has to be done to apply to several colleges.
Here is a list of things you should be starting on now to help ease the rush of this coming fall.
- Start by registering for the Common Application at www.commonapp.org. Start filling in information. Save it, revise it, and get familiar with it.
- Continue to research colleges. Do it online or actually begin campus visits. The aim is to have a finalized list of the college you want to apply to by August 1.
- Write for applications from colleges you are applying to. Now is the time to look the applications over carefully. They all have different requirements from interviews, numbers of recommendations and from whom, supplemental essays and materials, and application deadlines.
- Start a calendar to help you work though these requirements on time. List the application deadlines, but there are other things you should put on your calendar: SAT or ACT test dates, interview dates, and Have-it-Done-By dates for essays, teacher recommendations, transcripts, etc.
- Start writing now. The first thing is to look over the essay topics on the Common Application. You will have 5 choices. Brainstorm all five to see which might work for you best. At least get your thinking and drafting done now.
- At the same time begin to write up your high school résumé. Getting things you have done and accomplished down for the fist three years of high school will help you finish up this coming fall. The list will also be ready and helpful for you to use when asking teachers for recommendations when you get back to school in the fall.
Collegebasics has all kinds of specific and helpful tips for you to get all this accomplished. See our Applying for College Section that has many articles on college interviews, application essays, résumés, recommendations, and more.
