09 May Road Map for May: Juniors

Many of you are in the midst of AP exams and I hope they’ve been going well. Once you get through this crunch, you’ll be in the homestretch of the year! Your top priority remains finishing the year strong in all of your classes, especially your core academic subjects. Other immediate priorities include lining up your letters of recommendation and finalizing any remaining dates for standardized testing. I recommend you finish testing by July (for the ACT) or August (for the SAT) so it’s off your plate when you return to school in the fall.  (The College Board just opened registration for the 2024-25 school year, including the August 24 exam.)

Once you’ve covered these priorities, it’s time to look ahead to the application process. In addition to the Common Application and personal essay, your application workload will be determined by how many supplemental essays you have to write, and that depends on which schools you’re applying to. While you can make the final cut in the fall, you should have the general outline of your college list before then, and getting there might involve online college research or in-person tours. Summer tours are helpful, but without seeing students on campus you may not get the complete picture, so it’s even more important to arrive prepared. Here’s my advice how to do your homework ahead of a visit by learning about the academic programs and campus life of a school and taking advantage of the virtual information sessions and tours they offer.  And here’s a great list of questions you might want to ask, most of which are applicable for both virtual and in-person visits.

For additional support with building your college list and developing strong applications, I hope you’ll register here for one of my summer workshops or contact me about individual advising.