High School Timeline Simplified

This is a fairly simple, straight forward model I've been sharing with students and families recently. It's a work in progress, and I'll update it as the need arises, so check back in from time to time.

Summer before 9th

1. Read good literature
2. Read ahead for high school courses as needed
3. Take any placement tests needed to place into classes at the high school
4. Enjoy time with family and friends; get outside!
5. Become familiar with College Board and ACT, the exams that are offered, and the dates they’re offered. This can help with future planning of test schedules. Sign up for an account if you’d like.
6. Look ahead to academic competitions that might be of interest in your area of strength.
7. Choose your freshman classes well; go for rigor, but allow yourself the adjustment to high school, so don’t overload

9th Grade

1. Start maintaining a resume and if applicable, supplemental materials (art portfolio, etc.); the Coalition application as well as ZeeMee allows you to keep documentation ongoing, so student can consider doing that, as well- All year
2. Keep a reading list, particularly for homeschoolers- All Year
3. Continue long-standing interests at a high school level-September
4. PSAT for some kids who feel ready to try-October
5. Try new clubs/activities-September/October
6. Plan summer activities in the spring-January through May
7. Subject Test(s) for kids who feel ready/who are in advanced classes-May or June
8. AP exam for those who are taking any APs in 9th- May
9. For students who anticipate needing accommodations, begin the process for requesting accommodations for SAT and ACT; it can be arduous-Spring and Summer
10. For homeschoolers in California, consider when to take the CHSPE. It’s offered 3 times a year currently, October, March and June
11. SAT or ACT for kids who feel ready and/or for kids who might be considering graduating early

Summer before 10th Grade

1. Visit colleges if it’s convenient (local or if you’re traveling)
2. Summer activities can include sports, arts, academics, special programs, travel, time with family and friends--anything that’s important to you. Continue to explore passions more in depth. Conversely, summer is a chance to explore new areas of interest.
3. Read ahead if you plan to take AP classes in 10th
4. Plan your sophomore classes; add some rigor, but allow yourself room to pursue passions and interests
5. Read and consider doing some SAT/ACT/PSAT prep or visit some websites such as Khan Academy to begin to familiarize yourself with tests. Figure out which might be better for you, SAT or ACT.-July
6. Look ahead to academic competitions that might be of interest-August
7. If you’re prepared, consider taking SAT or ACT in July/August

10th Grade

1. Update your resume so you can use it to apply to summer programs; make sure to add any new information (awards, honors, activities, special classes or programs, travel, special skills, employment, etc)-Ongoing
2. PSAT-October
3. Research and apply to summer programs/plans if that’s you’re bent-October through March
4. College visits- Winter break, spring break, holidays, weekends at nearby schools
5. SAT or ACT in spring-May or June
6. SAT II (if you’re prepared)-May or June
7. AP exams- May
8. Focus on keeping grades up
9. SAT/ACT prep; Barrons, College Board, Khan Academy, Princeton Review, an inexpensive SAT prep class at the local school-Christmas break, spring break, May after AP exams
10. Consider a free real time ACT or SAT if they offer them in your city: https://www.princetonreview.com/college/free-sat-practice-test#!practice https://www.princetonreview.com/college/free-act-practice-test#!practice April-July

Summer before 11th Grade

1. Attend programs or summer camps if that appeals to you. For the budget minded, local programs are a great option, as are highly selective programs that are free to attend.
2. Work; many kids are 16 and can work. Find something that fits your schedule and lifestyle. Clients of mine have been tutors, lifeguards, fast food employees, musicians, computer repair workers, paid interns, and more.
3. Passions-align your summer activities with passions and interest
4. Service-summer’s a good time to reach out and help others
5. Academics; some students use summer to either get ahead or catch up by taking summer school classes
6. July ACT or August SAT if you’d like to try it
7. Reading ahead for junior classes/choosing rigorous courses
8. Visit colleges; begin to get a sense of what you might like or dislike
9. Consider looking for scholarships this summer by getting on some lists such as Fastweb, College Board Scholarships, Cappex and Niche Scholarships
10. Continue keeping track of supplementals (art, music, athletics, maker projects, research projects)
11. If you haven’t done so already, make your activities resume. As a reminder, an activities resume is different from a one page work resume. This should contain all activities, honors, awards and include special interests sections as well as test scores and GPA. If you’re unsure of how to approach this, get in touch with me!
12. Open a Common Application account if you’d like since the account now rolls over. This gives you a chance to become familiar with it https://www.commonapp.org/ .- After August 1
13. If you don’t have a good email that easily identifies you (not something like “skaterdude@yahoo”), please get one now.-July or August
14. PSAT prep: since the PSAT counts this year for National Merit consideration, make sure you are well familiar with the PSAT and SAT formats. Focus on beefing up areas of weakness if you believe you have a shot at making the NM cutoff or the NM Commended cutoff in your state.

11th Grade

1. Reach out and begin to communicate with colleges; this can be visits, emails, getting on their mailing lists, signing up for interviews, overnights, and so forth. Here’s an article about demonstrating interest: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-demonstrate-interest-answer-show-little-love-stuart-orlowski/ - August onward
2. PSAT-October; be sure to take the SAT within a year of the PSAT (before or after)
3. SAT-October, December, March, May or June; feel free to have free score reports sent if you know you did well, and you know some schools you’ll be applying to
4. SAT II-May or June (taken on different date than SAT)
5. Research and apply for summer programs/opportunities-October through March
6. 2+ APs-May
7. Retake any tests if necessary-May or June
8. Upward trend in grades, particularly in spring semester since these are often the last grades a college will see (or that matter) before you apply next fall- Spring
9. Visit colleges-Winter, President’s weekend, Spring breaks
10. Build college list beginning in fall or early in the new year-October; fill out college inventory https://admissionpossible.com/pdfs/collegequest.pdf or https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NSey5QYGP81xb9UbsSrE8tps-s3I4SaMma5XAZnYLH4/edit
11. Begin interviews in spring and summer for colleges that allow it (Get interview policy into college spreadsheet)-March through next February, depending on the school and its policy
12. Make sure resume is ready to use to give to recommenders- Anytime before you apply to summer programs or go for interviews
13. Ask teachers for recommendations-Spring, usually by May of junior year. However, some students can still use senior year recommenders if they need to (particularly homeschool students who might have fall college professors they really like)
14. Ask non-academic recommenders if they’d submit a letter on your behalf. This would be coaches, pastors, bosses, mentors, music teachers, club facilitators, etc., anyone who’s not one of your academic teachers. Ideally, ask 2-3 people.- May through September
15. Send your 4 free score reports to colleges you most think that you’ll be applying to; every time you take a standardized test, you’ll have the option of sending 4 scores for free, so take advantage of that.

Summer before 12th

1. College Visits and interviews
2. Last summer to do all your cool stuff
3. Open Common Application, Coalition or Universal if you haven’t before
4. Begin working on personal essay, but start by brainstorming qualities and adjectives that describe you (5-7); also write down stories and vignettes from your life that you think define who you are and what you want colleges to know. Be honest; be vulnerable; be funny if that’s you, and be true to yourself.- June onward
5. Apply to at least one rolling school-July or August
6. Identify if you’re going to apply ED I, ED II, EA or SCEA to a college/some colleges (Remember that you can’t apply ED and EA/SCEA)
7. Look for outside scholarships (see notes from last summer)
8. Make sure your supplemental material is ready to go by end of summer/beginning of school, if possible (not always possible; some recordings or live auditions will have to be done in the fall after school starts)
9. Plan ahead for music supplement, finding a place to record or scheduling your live auditions as soon as you are able
10. For arts portfolios, have someone experienced give you feedback on the portfolio
11. For athletics, make sure your coach is helping you with the proper protocol
12. For rolling schools, have test scores sent

RECAP FOR RISING SENIORS

1. Questbridge applicants should be filling out application this summer
2. Resume should be done
3. Tentative college list should be done
4. College spreadsheet should be filled in
5. Essay prompts should be in document
6. Common App should be open with a usable email address
7. Brainstorming and actual writing of first draft of personal essay and EC essay should be started/done by summer’s end
8. Plans to apply early (ED, EA, SCEA, REA) should be solidified by summer’s end
9. Plans to begin communicating with colleges that you’re interested in should begin this summer
10. Any interviews that need to be scheduled early should be scheduled now
11. Any diversity fly-in programs should be applied to as early as possible: https://getmetocollege.org/what-colleges-look-for/2018-fall-diversity-visit-programs
12. Rolling schools applications should be filled out early (by summer’s end)
13. If you are submitting an arts supplement, it should be ready by September.

12th Grade

1. Have test scores sent as soon as you can (ie. as soon as you know you’ll be applying to a school); keep in mind the fact that more schools are allowing scores to be self-reported. List is here: https://princetonreview.blog/2017/11/03/can-you-self-report-sat-and-act-scores/
2. Reach out to teachers to make sure they’re invited to submit recommendations through Naviance. If you don’t use Naviance, be sure to invite your teachers through the Common Application (for those schools that use it); otherwise, teachers may be submitting by mail or email. Some teachers might need self-addressed stamped envelopes to mail their letters, which you will supply-August and September
3. Invite your “other” recommenders to upload their letters to the Common Application- August and September
4. Finish any (re)testing- October at the latest (use August SAT date, Sept. ACT date, October SAT date)
5. Continue to reach out and communicate with colleges; ask questions, particularly ones that aren’t easily found on website (supplemental info, homeschooling info, unclear policy, visiting a class, etc.)-Ongoing as needed
6. Schedule interviews early! Be sure you, your parents, your counselor, etc. keep track of interview deadlines; sign up for them as soon as they open if possible-Varies
7. Begin supplemental essays (depending on when they’re released to the Common Application- August or September
8. If you didn’t already, consider looking for scholarships this summer by getting on some lists such as Fastweb, College Board Scholarships, Cappex and Niche Scholarships
9. Look carefully at your deadlines for admissions, scholarships, interviews and testing
10. Plan to apply earlier than later; get your applications done as soon as you’re comfortable with your essays. Deadlines for most EA/ED/SCEA/REA schools can be October 15th or November 1
11. CHECK YOUR EMAIL AND SPAM MAIL REGULARLY-Ongoing after you apply to any colleges
12. Continue working on essays with teacher, counselor, consultant; keep them in a document to be viewed/edited by the people you’re working with-September through early December
13. File the FAFSA; it’s now prior prior, meaning you will use last year’s taxes (ie. if a student is filling out the FAFSA on October 1, 2018, they will be using 2017 taxes)-October 1 is when it opens
14. Check out financial aid forms for all your schools. Some will require CSS Profile; others such as Princeton, Penn, etc. will have their own forms in addition to the CSS Profile and FAFSA. This should be relegated to a parent mostly.- October
15. Follow up with teachers and “other” recommenders to make sure they’ve submitted, particularly for your early colleges-October and November
16. Follow up with early application colleges within a couple of weeks to make sure they have all your materials including financial aid forms- October and November
17. Finish college applications early! Even if you applied ED/EA/SCEA and are waiting for December 15th, DO NO WAIT TO APPLY TO OTHER SCHOOLS UNTIL DECEMBER 15TH!! You should have all of your schools done before Christmas unless their application due dates are mid-January or later-Before December 25th
18. Follow up with colleges to make sure they have received all your materials-January for regular decision colleges
19. CHECK YOUR PORTALS FOR ALL COLLEGES REGULARLY! They will often have information about scheduling interviews and uploading additional/supplemental information-Ongoing after you apply.
20. Follow up with counselor (or parent if you’re a homeschooler) to make sure he/she has submitted midyear report and grades. Make sure you submit midyear report for those schools such as MIT that ask the student to do it. Be sure to report any curricular changes to all schools ASAP-January

SPRING OF SENIOR YEAR

1. Make sure your counselor has submitted both your midyear and your final grades when appropriate (ie. by the deadline)
2. As you begin to receive acceptances, keep a folder for acceptance letters and financial aid packages
3. Use a spreadsheet or some other way to do a comparison chart of schools to which you are accepted
4. Any schools where you are accepted, but you know you won’t be attending for whatever reason (including unaffordability), respond to them right away with a polite decline.
5. Make plans to visit colleges that are under consideration if possible. For Pell Grant students, be assertive and ask for travel funding if they don’t offer it.
6. Once you decide on a school, withdraw from all other schools ASAP (and politely).
7. Submit your SIR (statement of intent to register) and dorm selection as soon as is possible, particularly for those colleges where dorm selection is limited.
8. Keep your grades up! Colleges have been known to revoke admissions for low senior year grades.
9. Inform your college if you receive scholarships, as that can affect your financial aid package
10. If financial aid packages are confusing, reach out to the financial aid office for clarification or reach out to me
11. If you feel the financial aid package didn’t take into consideration some extenuating circumstances, plan to write an appeal.
12. Set up your college account and be sure to check it regularly for registration dates and important information.
13. Enjoy your summer; you earned it!!!

Here are several other timelines that you might find helpful:

https://www.khanacademy.org/college-careers-more/college-admissions/get-started/introduction-ca/a/master-timeline-college-admissions

https://admissionpossible.com/timelines.html