College Preparation

College Ready

What does it mean to prepare yourself for college? How do you get yourself ready so that you have the best chances of getting into the college of your choice. You can start preparing yourself at any age for college. Attendance, grades, participation in school and outside of school activities, all develop your skills and traits needed for college.

Freshman Year

• Look into taking honors classes
• Focus on passing Keystone Exams - an exam is taken after completing each of the following courses
• Algebra
• 10th Literature
• Biology
• Build Resume -volunteer, job shadow, join sports, band, after school clubs, academic clubs
• Career Searching
• GPA- grade point average.  Your GPA starts your freshman year, and changes every time you complete a class/credit. That is why it is important to take your academics seriously from your freshman year, as all classes will show on your transcript.
• Transcripts are what colleges want to see to learn more about you. Transcripts are like your academic resume, it's one of the first things that colleges read about you

Sophomore Year

• Look into taking honors AP (Advance Placement) Classes
• Continue Building Resume- summer job, take summer class for advancement
• College Visits
• Take PSAT (Preliminary SAT), PLAN (practice for ACT) (October)
• Continue Career Searching - look into majors 

Junior Year

• Keep up academics. Transcript from this year will be sent in to college. 
• Attend College Fairs
• Start learning about college searches
• Register for the ACT and/or SAT
• Take AP/IB/Dual Enrollment courses
• Start to narrow down list of colleges interested in and visit if haven't already.
• Decide if you want to apply for earn decision or early action.
• Continue building resume
• Talk to a college student about their college application and enrollment process or ideas and suggestions.

Senior Year

• Meet with your school counselor to make sure you will have met graduation requirements.
• Stay involved in school activities. Tryout for leadership roles.
• Stay strong with academics - colleges require a final transcript after high school graduation before officially accepting students. Also, it determines scholarship eligibility.
• Register to take ACT/SATS if needed
• Apply to colleges of interest
• Submit scholarship applications
• FAFSA - Jan 1st if first day it can be submitted. check colleges' deadlines for submitting.
• Compare college acceptance letters and financial aid award packets
• May 1st - deadline for tuition deposit to college you want to attend
• Attend student orientation, schedule classes, campus housing options, meal plans, financial aid/Bursar's office.

Below is a college planning checklist that can be used during your junior and senior years.

References

https://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college/checklists/

Images from: http://www.annawan226.org/counseling/college/college-planning-checklist/
http://hollywoodhillshigh.browardschools.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20254&Itemid=31402