Senior Planning Chart
Academic
- Stay on track! Review class schedules, test scores and college plans with your counselor to ensure that you are meeting all of your college prep requirements.
- Stay on top! Keep up with your homework — your GPA is important!
- Aim high! Take a fourth-year math course, advanced English, AP and other advanced and honors courses.
- Consider taking courses at a local university or community college.
- Ready, set, test! Sign up for October or November ACT and/or SAT tests. Apply for exam fee waivers and practice!
- Life beyond classes! Continue your involvement in academic enrichment and extracurricular activities. Take on leadership roles. Get involved with community service and volunteer work.
College & Career
- Plan! Meet with your counselor about plans for college, scholarships and financial aid.
- Get organized! Create files to keep copies of applications and correspondence.
- Stay organized! Keep track of important dates and deadlines in your student planner such as class assignments, college application deadlines, test registration dates and fees, and financial aid deadlines.
- Attend college planning information nights and college fairs.
- Say please! Request letters of recommendation from your teachers for scholarships and college applications.
- Narrow it down! Apply on time to at least two or three colleges. Be sure to include the appropriate fees and make copies of everything before sending them to the schools of your choice.
- Details! Send high school transcripts to colleges in the fall and send your final transcripts in May.
- Congratulations! You should expect to hear whether you have been accepted to colleges by April 15. Compare the acceptance letters, financial aid and scholarship offers. Reply promptly to acceptance letters from colleges — the deadline is usually May 1. Pay a non-refundable deposit to your selected college for tuition and housing for your freshman year.
- Visit! Make sure to visit the colleges you are seriously considering and to which you have been accepted. Talk with current students, sit in on classes and check retention rates for first-year students.
- Say thank you! Send “thank you” notes to scholarship providers and people who wrote letters of recommendation for you.
- Room and board? Understand housing options and requirements for students on campus.
- Get your bearings! Participate in any summer orientation programs for incoming freshman.
Financial
- Keep saving for college!
- Check it twice! Make a financial aid checklist, including deadlines.
- Fund yourself! Complete and submit scholarship applications.
- Attend financial aid nights.
- Register for selective service at the post office or online. (This applies to males, 18 years of age.)
- FAFSA time! With the help of your parents/guardians, gather the necessary documents to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Be sure to check the priority deadline at the college you want to attend.
- Tax time! Make sure your parents/guardians file their taxes if they have earned over $1,500.
- What’s my pin? Apply for a FAFSA pin at www.pin.ed.gov.
- What’s your SAR? You should receive your Student Aid Report (SAR) four weeks after the FAFSA is filed. The SAR is the U.S. Department of Education’s reply to your submitted FAFSA and summarizes your financial aid eligibility for any federal programs. When you get your SAR, make sure your colleges of choice are listed. If corrections or updates are needed, complete them as soon as possible.
- Know the FAO! Contact the Financial Aid Office (FAO) for each college in which you are interested to discuss payment options and the availability of additional student financial aid (scholarships, work-study, state grants, etc.).
- Complete college-specific, financial aid applications.
- Develop a direct contact at the FAOs of those schools to which you have been accepted. Use this contact periodically to check on the status of your financial aid applications.
- What’s the difference? Take time to understand student loans, grants and work-study.
- Review, understand and accept appropriate financial aid offer.
- Budget! Prepare a realistic student budget.
- Keep copies of all documents!