Let’s get you on track.

Where ever you are in the process of applying to college, just insert yourself in the outline below. We can guide your though the particulars of these steps, but this can give you an idea of where you will be headed for the next four years.

9th Grade

Relax and enjoy this as much as possible. Middle-school or junior high is over, and you now can access a few “content-based” courses you are actually interested in like Drawing 1 or Digital Imaging 1 or Chinese 1. Take an elective or two — whatever your schedule allows.

In the spring of your first year, meet with your guidance counselor and talk to your parents. You will want to plan for the most rigorous course work you can handle at the A/B grade level. Consider some AP courses (generally there are one or two at your high school you can take sophomore year). The course planning moving forward is rigor first, but keep with the foreign language instruction and that interesting elective too.

10th Grade

Grades begin to matter this school year. Do what you can to make the best possible grades for the fall of sophomore year. If you find yourself in over your head in an elective and/or an accelerated class, consider switching levels at Winter Break. Protect the GPA, and plan to circle back with an AP in a that subject matter. (We can discuss specific cases as they present themselves.) Keep you schedule full — no study halls.

Avail yourself of every tool you can use for a good PSAT showing — this test will tell you a great deal about gaps or deficiencies in the SAT (which is much more important). DO NOT be passive about the pre-SAT/pre.-ACT tests that you might take as part of high school. Don’t blow these off.

Finally, you should think about your community service “footprint.” What are you doing to help out in your community? (A part-time job within the minimum-wage, service sector gives you spending money, but helping out at your church, synagogue or mosque helps others and you in the long run.) You should fold in bi-monthly community service through clubs at school at your place of worship or at a community hub.

11th Grade

This is a huge year!

Here’s a quarter-by-quarter breakdown …

Q1

  • get off to a good start academically by establishing good study habits

  • commit to a block of time every week night, regardless of your work load to complete some homework (you have to “chip away at it”)

  • develop a plan to study for the PSAT/NMSQT which will take place in the fall

    • this test will be the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test for your 1st year of college (every class’s official qualifier happens about 18 months before the money is awarded)

  • don’t overlook those activities and extracurriculars for which you have leadership positions; take charge and get a plan for year-long involvement (for instance Key Club has service responsibilities all year); don’t phone it in!

  • near the end of the quarter think of two teachers who you could ask for recommendations and nurture these relationships

Q2

  • add SAT/ACT prep. to your homework routine

    • talk to your counselor and/or teachers and make use of the free and/or school provided test prep tools (Kahn academy, Blue Book, albert.io)

    • set aside time to talk a practice ACT on paper (the ACT is the only paper-based test remaining)

    • there are dozens of low-cost ACT prep. books and you should take a full practice test in order to compare the “feel” of this in contrast to the e-SAT (which is the only way the SAT is now given)

  • make a solid plan to finish the semester strong

  • if you feel “under-challenged” in your current courses, consider moving up a level after Winter Break and speak to your counselor, teacher(s), and the appropriate administrator

  • before Winter Break “plant the seeds” of your teacher recommendations

    • this is really early to ask, put it does put in context what these letters are for

    • you should sit down with your teachers an explain that you will need an assessment of your growth and potential and you respect their time by asking early

  • make a plan to visit at least one local college over Winter Break

  • review the national test dates for SAT or ACT and consider taking one in Feb. or March; the deadlines for registration will be early in Jan.

Q3

  • early in the new semester, before the crush of homework, learn to use the college planning platform for your school (ie. School Links, Naviance) and create a College Board “Big Future” account

  • begin serious college planning

  • plan for a rigorous senior class schedule

  • as your parents are preparing their tax return(s), this would be a good time to have an honest conversation about the cost of college and what you can afford

    • keep in mind that your FAFSA should be completed as early as possible next fall and this application will be based on the year-that-just-ended’s household income

  • make a plan to visit some colleges during Spring Break

  • intensive study for SAT/ACT

  • register to take 2nd or 1st SAT/ACT

  • shore up your plan to finish strong!

  • circle back with the teacher-recommenders

12th Grade

11th/12th Grade Summer

  • don’t forget your summer service commitments

  • finalize your list

  • get on the Common App!

___

You will want to have completed 6 of the 7 sections of the Common App before the first day of your senior year. Yes, and you will want to have a good, near-final draft of your core essay for the Common App. There’s no perfect deadlines here, but a good rule of thumb is Oct. 1 for everything to be done, including supplemental essays.

You will need to strategize for early decision, early action, rolling admissions, early decision 2, and regular decision, etc. We can help you with this, based on individual needs, but, again, these decisions are “due” on or about Oct. 1. Pull your parents back into the process and jump on the FAFSA as soon as it is available for use. (There can be advantages to filling this out early, especially with certain public schools with pre-determined and more rigid aid budgets.)

Once all the pre-Christmas deadlines are finished, you wait … and ponder … and make (perhaps?) another application before the final, regular decision deadlines but before MLK Day.

Then you really wait …

Once the decisions are in in March, you need to look over your aid awards and make your final decision before May 1.

You are done 🙂