Ask Admissions Girl: What do I need to do in my senior year of high school to plan for college?
If you are a rising high school senior, one of the first things on your mind is probably college. From this point, you have about twelve months until you enroll as a college freshman. If you are feeling nervous, disorganized or unsure about what needs to be done, here are all of the things you need to do this year to get ready:
1: Narrow your college list to 5-10 school choices.
2: Make a list of the following:
- Test dates, fees, and deadlines
- College application due dates
- Required financial aid applications and their deadlines
- Recommendations, transcripts, and other necessary materials
- Your high school’s deadlines for application requests, such as your transcript
3: Send in your college applications. Most applications are due between January 1st and February 15th.
4: Have your high school send your transcript to colleges.
5: Contact colleges to make sure they’ve received all application materials.
6: Submit your FAFSA as soon after January 1st as possible.
7: Explore other financial aid options including private student loans and free college scholarships.
8: You should get acceptance letters and financial aid offers by mid-April and you must tell every college of you acceptance of rejection of offers of admission by May 1st.
This may seem like a lot right now, but if you stay organized and on top of deadlines you will have no problems! Good luck with the process!
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Awesome post..:)
You can always contact career college admissions personnel at the particular college your hoping to go to and they can educate you more on the requirements you’ll need to meet to get in.
i'm a senior in high school, and everything seem so frustration with trying to get atheletic scolarships. Thanks for the tips
Good tips for HS seniors. Take note guys!
Thank goodness FAFSA!
im an upcoming junior. is there anything i can do to alleviate the senior burden?
Nancy – you are on the right track! The earlier you start researching the college application process, the less the burden will be your senior year. Great question, I will be replying with a post soon. We have a general timeline at http://www.howtogetin.com/college-preparation/col…
Let me know if this helps or if you have more questions!
-AG
thanks!
i'm a senior in highschool, and i'm going MAD.
thanks for the tips