Your 12^th Grade Year (yippee — graduation at last!)

All school year: Fight off the urge to fade into the senior slump.

In the fall

• Narrow your college choices to a handful and list out their application deadlines.
• Take the SAT Reasoning Test, Subject Tests and the ACT.  If you took exams before to get the hang of what was expected, look forward to scoring better on this round — if you prepared.
• Get going on your college essays. Never submit your work without having at least one other person review it, preferably someone trained as an editor or educator.
• Approach teachers about writing letters of recommendation and completing your Evaluation Forms and School Report. Make sure you communicate a clear deadline for submission to each college.
• Send in Early Action or Early Decision applications, you're interested in finding out sooner, rather than later, whether you've been accepted at the colleges of your choice.
• Contact your guidance counselor to request transcript and test scores be sent to the universities you've applied to.

In the winter

• If you haven't already sent them in, now's the time to launch your applications! 
• Get your financial forms, including the famous FAFSA, in order and in the mail (also available online).
• Stay in touch with your counselor. He or she should submit a completed Mid-Year School Report by the deadline, which usually falls in February.
• Keep tracking down scholarships. Check in with local civic and special interests groups, businesses and industries near and far, and your parents' employers.  (See the financial aid link on this website for more information).

In the spring

• Be patient as colleges sort through hills and heaps of applications. You'll probably get the news (hopefully, all good) in April.
• If you're placed on a wait list, talk with your counselor about your next best move with that particular college.
• When you've heard back from every college, you have some deciding to do. Participate in on-campus events for the incoming freshman class at any or all of the schools that extended an acceptance. Then, figure out where you really want to spend the next several years.
• Notify all the schools of your decision and send in your deposit to your top choice.
• Take the time to thank everybody who helped you get to this point — the threshold of another freshman year!