College Admissions Timeline
This is a general timeline of things you should be thinking about each year of your high school career that will help you with college admissions.
9th grade: DISCOVERY AND PLANNING
Fall/Winter
- Take Myers-Briggs Personality Test
- Experiment with courses, activities, clubs, and sports
- Read books, magazines, articles
- Ask a lot of questions and develop relationships with your teachers
- Volunteer in the community
- Start actively practicing a foreign language
- Start developing a plan for your high school career
Spring/Summer
- SAT II Subject Tests
- Summer planning: Find a summer activity or a job that will contribute to self-discovery
10th grade: IMPLEMENTATION
Fall/Winter
- Take a trial run of the PSAT in October
- Finalize plan for your high school career and start implementing it
- Commit to 1-2 Extracurricular activities, get really involved, and develop a relationship with the leaders of that organization, sport, or club
- Continue reading and practicing a foreign language
- Find a volunteer organization or cause that you are passionate about and commit to it
Spring
- SAT II Subject Tests
- Summer planning: Find a summer job, volunteer activity that will develop specific skills
Summer
- Summer job/activity
- Start looking over the Common Application so you know what you will need to collect in the next 1 ½ years
- Start talking to people who are in college and ask them about their courses and experience
- Start doing college research
11th grade: HARD WORK
Fall/Winter
- Take the PSAT in October
- Take AP courses
- Continue reading and practicing a foreign language
- Assume a leadership role in an extracurricular activity
- Study!
Spring
- Take the SAT
- Meet with your college counselor and start putting together a college list
- Research colleges and college visits
- AP exams and SAT II Subject Tests
- Summer planning: Find a job, volunteer work, travel, sports camp…etc. that will challenge you. By now, you should have a general idea of what interests you
Summer
- Summer job/activity
- Register for ACT or SAT for fall
- Look over the Common Application and research colleges
- Create a list of colleges: safety, match, and reach schools
- Brainstorm college essay ideas and put together a brag sheet
12th grade: APPLICATIONS
September
- Register for SAT, SAT II Subject Tests and/or ACT
- Request letters of recommendation
- Run for leadership position in student council, volunteer organization, club, or sports team
- Finalize list of colleges and create chart of application deadlines (early decision, regular decision, FAFSA, CSS Profile)
- Take challenging classes and keep academic record strong
- Create an account with The Common Application
- Finalize your college essays and ask people you trust for feedback
October
- Take the SAT, SAT II Subject Tests, and/or ACT
- Attend college fairs
- Complete your application if you are applying early
- Ask for your high school transcript and review it
- Research scholarships and grants
November/December
- Submit early decision/action applications
- Submit scholarship and grant applications
- Make sure all test scores were sent to the colleges
- Make sure your letters of recommendation were sent and received
- Complete and submit your applications for regular decision before the January or February deadlines
- Prepare your FAFSA forms
- Study!!
January
- Submit the FAFSA according to the individual school’s deadlines
- Submit all remaining regular decision applications
February
- Make sure you received confirmation from colleges you applied to
- Register for AP exams
- Submit scholarship and grant applications
- If you submitted the FAFSA, you should receive the Student Aid Report (SAR): Look it over for any mistakes
- Study!!!
Spring
- Collect acceptance, rejection, and waitlist letters and compare financial aid packages
- If you are waitlisted, don’t just wait: Be proactive
- Notify schools that you have decided not to attend.
- May/June: Make sure you meet the deposit deadline of the school you want to attend.
- Avoid senioritis and study!
- Take AP exams.
