Your junior in high school is the perfect time to start the college application process. There is a lot more work to do than you probably realize and you want to make sure you give yourself ample time to complete each task and not feel overwhelmed. You can use this list as a guide to help you get started.

Finish Your Junior Year Strong

This year is critical to your college application because it is the final year of grades that colleges will often see when they make their decisions. Make sure you finish strong and do your very best. Colleges will spend a significant amount of time analyzing your transcript, so make sure you have positive grade trends.

Plan your Senior Year Courses Carefully

While you won’t have senior grades at the time you apply to college, you will report your intended senior coursework on all of your college applications. It is important to continue to challenge yourself and resist the temptation to take easy courses for your final year of high school. Colleges recognize senioritis when they see it, and they do not like to see students reduce the amount of rigor in their schedule or take abbreviated schedules.

Make a Testing Plan

Now is the time to finalize your testing plan. If you haven’t determined which test is best suited for you, consider taking a mock test of both the ACT and the SAT to compare the results. You can then determine your test prep needs and establish your test dates. It is important to register for your test dates well in advance to ensure you get your preferred testing site. Most students test 3-4 times with the goal of being finished by the beginning of their senior year.

Talk to your parents about your college plans

This might be the biggest decision of your life so far, but it isn’t a decision you can make without any input from your parents. It is important to begin having an open discussion to establish expectations and responsibilities for all parties involved. The sooner you realize that you and your parents are a team and not adversaries, the happier you will be throughout the entire process. Your parents know you better than you know yourself, and they genuinely want the best for you. The best thing you can do is communicate maturely and advocate for yourself.

Start thinking about your summer

I know it is tempting to want to spend the summer with your friends or take a well-deserved break after a tough junior year, but that isn’t the best use of your summer before your senior year. This summer is a very valuable time. This summer is your final opportunity to pursue an internship or attend a career camp or take on a leadership role – the point is, don’t waste it. You should also start working on your college applications. If you wait until school starts, you will have so many demands on your time that you will feel overwhelmed very quickly.

Do your research

Start thinking about what your life looks like after graduation. Do you know what careers interest you? What majors? What schools would you like to attend? There are many great resources and tools to help you answer these questions. Start now, and start doing your research. Don’t worry too much if you don’t have all the answers, though. The important thing is to get started and to begin the process. In some cases, you may start by eliminating things you don’t like before you find the ones you do like.

Start Building your college list

Building a college list is fluid, and it takes time. It is ok if your initial list is not very long and isn’t based on any criteria other than “brand names.” The goal is to develop a balanced list of 6-10 schools with 1 to 2 of them being likely schools, 2 to 4 of being target schools, and 1 -2 being reach schools. If you add any school that has an acceptance rate of 20% or lower, i.e., an Ivy League school, that is considered a wild card school, and those should be added to your college list with caution. As you do your research, your college list should become more customized to your criteria.

Plan College Visits

It is important to visit schools to get a feel for the campus. If you are traveling for a vacation, and you are near a college campus, take the opportunity to visit the campus. If schools on your list require a significant distance to travel, you might want to wait until you have been accepted to visit, but you will still want to visit campuses near you to get an idea of what different campuses feel like to you. There is no substitute for actually visiting a campus and getting to experience it first-hand.

Get started! Don’t procrastinate

I know you think you have a lot of time to get everything done, and you don’t think you should start your college application process as a junior in high school, but trust me – you need to start NOW! This time will go by very quickly, and the deadlines will be here before you know it. Do yourself a favor and start working on this list right now.

Get help where you need it

You can absolutely do this by yourself. There are plenty of resources available for you to use to guide you through the process and help you manage your college applications. You can find many of them by visiting the Resources Page of the Educated Pathways website. That being said, there may be times when you need help, so don’t hesitate to ask for it and don’t wait too long. If you need test prep, college essay coaching, or comprehensive college planning, there are many options for you to choose from. The key is to find the right solution to fit your needs.

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This was originally posted on December 28, 2019.