Fall
- Continue to take college prep and honors classes.
- Expand your interests by joining new clubs and activities.
- Take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) for practice. When you fill out your test sheet, make sure you check the box that releases your name to colleges so you can start receiving information from them.
- Ask your guidance counselor about the American College Testing program’s PLAN (Pre-ACT) assessment program, which helps determine your study habits and academic progress and interests.
- Strengthen relationships with teachers and counselors as they can help you later on in your search.
- Become familiar with general college entrance requirements.
- Participate in your school’s or state’s career development activities, such as Career Days.
Winter
- Discuss your PSAT score with your counselor and devise an action plan for areas that need improving.
- Get involved in activities outside the classroom through community service and other volunteer activities.
- Seek out leadership positions in the activities that you enjoy the most.
- Work on your writing skills—it will come in handy for your application essays and anything you choose to study.
- Discuss college cost factors with your parents/guardians and investigate options, such as scholarships.
- Tour a nearby college, if possible. Visit relatives or friends who live on or near a college campus. Check out the dorms, go to the library and student center, and then begin to think about what type of college you want to attend.
- Investigate summer enrichment programs.
Spring
- Keep your grades up so you can have the highest GPA and class rank possible.
- Ask your counselor about Advanced Placement (AP) courses to take over the summer or next year.
- Continue to explore interests and careers that you might like and talk to your counselor about them.
- Go onto college websites and find out their academic requirements for admission.
- Read all of the mail you receive from colleges and make notes of what you like and dislike.
- Attend college fairs. Pick up literature on colleges that catch your eye and talk to admission counselors from colleges you’ve started investigating.
- Begin looking for a summer job and research potential employers.
Summer
- Visit a few more local college campuses to begin zeroing in on the type of college you would prefer (two-year or four-year, small or large, rural or urban).
- Talk to friends and relatives about their college experience and use that to help define what you are looking for.
- Read as many books as possible from a comprehensive reading list as it will help prepare you for the amount of reading expected of you in college.
- Set up a filing system for interested, maybes and no’s. Learn more about those in the first two categories.
Go here to learn what you should be doing as a junior.