College Checklist for Seniors

If you're like me, you're seeing all of your older friends get ready for a big transition in their lives, and you're feeling left behind. It's scary to think that, in less than a year, I'll know where I'm going to be spending the next 4 years of my life.

The common application came out a few days ago, and I had a chance to look it over to see what it would be asking of me. Reducing my high school career to a few "activities" entries and some drop down boxes was really disappointing. I feel like I've done a lot in my high school career, and I've sure as hell matured a whole lot since I started high school, but there's no place for putting that down on the common app!

As a compulsive list-maker, I decided to reduce my stress into a very manageable to do list for the next year of my life.

TO DO BEFORE D-DAY (Decision Day)

~ Find scholarships that you're eligible for- There are a lot of scholarships out there, and sifting through them can take a long time, so try to do it before senior year actually begins

~ Decide what you want in a college- Big or small? In a city or in the suburbs? What area of study do you want to focus on? If you make these decisions, choosing a college can be made much less stressful and seemingly random.

~ Get on campus- go to local colleges to get a feel for what you want in a school and help yourself make the tough decisions.

~ Get your ideal score on the ACT- If you haven't done as well as you'd hoped on the ACT or SAT before now, study hard, because you have another shot in September to hit your goal score!

~ Make a preliminary colleges list- using the factors you decided on, make a list of colleges that fit what you want in a school, and check out their admissions requirements and averages. Categorize them- reach, match, and safety schools.

~ Senior pictures- make sure you get them scheduled and taken, and submitted to your school (if your school participates in this type of program)

~ Stay focused- It may be easy, once you're accepted into a school, to start the "senior slide", but keep studying and pass your classes, the information you're learning is going to be very relevant in college.

~Early Action/ Early Decision- if you're 100% sure that you want to go to one school, you can apply for early action or decision, so make sure you remember to fill out your application before the deadline

~ College fairs- get exposed to different colleges through college fairs in your area or college reps that come to your school to present. If you're even the slightest bit interested in going to a college, check out their booth or presentation to see what they have to offer you.

~ Register for AP exams (if applicable)- Don't forget, just because you're senior sliding doesn't mean that you can't get some credit for all the work you've put into your AP classes! Some colleges (not all) take a good score on a AP test as credit, saving you money in taking out student loans.