It can be daunting and an overwhelming task to figure out what you need to do and by when in order to get into college. Follow this easy timeline by high school grade to keep on track with getting into the college of your choice.

1. High Schoolers Timeline For College Admissions
by Jeff Klaus
It can be daunting and an overwhelming task to figure out what you need to do and by
when in order to get into college. Follow this easy timeline by high school grade to keep
on track with getting into the college of your choice.
Freshman Year:
- meet with your school’s guidance counselor and begin a plan for your college career
- pick a broad high school course selection and possibly honors or AP for your high
school classes
- begin to consider the areas of interest you may have for your career
- start looking for colleges with the degrees you may want to pursue
- high grades are very important to college admissions, keep them up
- the higher your overall GPA the better chance you have for admissions and
scholarships
- create a college folder with subfolders of: Test Scores, Volunteering, Jobs/ Internships,
Letters of Recommendations, Essays, Financial aid for FAFSA etc.
Sophomore Year:
- take the PSAT this year. It is great practice for the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) a
trademark used for a set of standardized college entrance examinations.
- your scores don’t count.
- check out a practice guide from the library or buy one, it will begin to prepare your for
the SAT
- state tests are usually required to pass each grade level, make sure to ask your
counselor if you need to take them
- keep your grades up
Junior Year:
- high PSAT scores will qualify you for the the National Merit Scholarship Competition,
you will also need great grades and a recommendation from your school to become a
finalist.
- plan on preparing 3-12 weeks for the SAT, the more you study the better you will do
- you should only take the SAT a maximum of 3 times
- most SATs are taken in January, March, May and June
- some schools may require the ACT as well which includes and essay above the
English, Reading, Math and Science, register at www.act.org
- keep your grades up, a high GPA is very important, colleges put a heavy emphasis on
this years grades from your transcripts.
- make sure you are talking to your school counselors, they have tons of information on
all colleges like: cost, location, size, curriculum, campus life etc.
www.jeffklaus.weebly.com !
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2. - begin to apply to your possible choices of colleges with their online applications
- be sure to take extracurricular activities but only the ones your truly enjoy, don’t
overload here
- summer school at a local community college is not a bad idea to get the feel of college
life and can help you better your grade if you are struggling in a particular subject
- consider traveling to your potential college choices over the summer, when you do
write down what you liked and didn’t like about the overall college to compare them to
each other so you don’t forget
- try to get a summer job or internship of some sort that mirrors your career interest,
colleges look for this to see how responsible and committed you are
Senior Year:
- do not procrastinate this year
- if you are not happy with your SAT, take them again in October
- if you are happy with your scores don’t take them in the fall
- if you are happy with your GPA, SAT scores and you know where you want to go to
college you can apply early to many colleges by November 1st of this year, this is
helpful for choice classes and dorm selections plus you could be done by midDecember
- most colleges require you to write essays for entrance, spend lots of time on them,
practice with them and have fun but make sure they are perfect before you send them
off, you can reuse these essays for many other colleges so write them elsewhere and
then copy and paste them into the application
- you will need recommendations from your teachers as well, ask the teachers you know
well and like your work, you can start off with a standard form but change it slightly for
each recommendation so they don’t have to do all of the work
- visit colleges during Spring Break too
- you can fill out applications for literally thousands of different scholarships and grants,
but be wise and don’t spend your entire senior year filling these out, your chances can
be fairly slim, but helpful as well
- for financial aid, your parents will need to fill out the FAFSA, the closer to January of
this year before April 15th the better, begin working on it before then as it involves
previous tax returns, financial information, college choices and their codes etc.
- for rolling admission colleges, fill them out as soon as possible, many times they admit
applicants on a continuous basis
- when you get acceptance letters from hopefully several of your choices, celebrate and
then begin your scholarship applications specifically offered at that college and choose
the best college with the best offers for you
- you will need to put down a deposits as well as send your signed acceptance letter
and yours and your parents loan applications now
- don’t forget to thank everyone who has helped you throughout this process
www.jeffklaus.weebly.com !
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