Things to Do Before Your Senior Year
Apply for scholarships!
You can actually start applying before Senior year.Create a budget.
Start to understand what college will cost. Create a budget for your life to stick to the next year. This will help you understand finances more and prepare to have a budget in college and beyond.Have a part-time job or shadow someone in the field you are interested in.
This is great to help you understand if this is what you want to major in, but this will also be a great thing to put on your resume. Experience and curiosity in the field will look great on college applications.Take or re-take the SAT or ACT.
Take the SAT and ACT as many times as you need by the end of the summer before your Senior year. You will want a great score by the time you start applying for colleges. You won’t want to take this Senior year when you are focusing on applying for colleges.Visit schools.
Have your school visits done by the Fall and be ready to apply to your top schools-have a list of reach and target schools to apply to. If you need to visit your top schools one more time in the Fall, do so, but have your visits booked before Senior year begins.Research application deadlines.
Don’t wait to the Fall to know when things are due. Know what schools have priority deadlines and when you need to turn in your application.Understand your class rank and GPA.
Ask your college counselor for your class rank and be aware of your GPA to write a strong cover letter or resume to send to schools. Stay strong and keep your academics up even throughout Senior year.Stay organized.
It is easy to get your college admissions counselor emails lost, it is easy to forget when deadlines come up in-between college deadlines, FAFSA availability, college nights, scholarship deadlines, and Senior activities. Start using your calendar diligently and block out dates to apply for schools and scholarships. The more you plan, the less you will be stressed when things come up.
