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Meet with your counselor

1. Review your academic progress, check your transcript for accuracy, and adjust your four-year plan if necessary.

2. Discuss your post-high school plans.

Continue to research college/careers

1. Make lists of your abilities, social/cultural preferences, and personal qualities. List things you may want to study and do in college.

2. Learn about colleges. Look at their web sites. Talk to friends, family, teachers, and recent grads now in college. List college features that interest you.

3. Attend College Night with your parents (October).

4. Sign up to see college representatives when they visit North (find out who is visiting and when by listening to the announcements or asking your counselor).

5. Make a file to organize your college search, testing, and application data.

6. If appropriate (for example, if you’re interested in drama, music, art, sports, etc.), start to gather material for a portfolio.

7. Visit some local colleges—large, small, public, and private. Get a feel for what works for you. Attend college fairs, too.

8. Develop a list of 15 or 20 colleges that attract you. Request view books or research online to gather information about financial aid and academic programs that interest you.

9. Military academies—contact your counselor before summer vacation…you should begin the application process the summer before your senior year.

Testing

1. Sign up to take the PSAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test), which is given in October. If you plan to ask for accommodations because of a disability, be sure the College Board approves your eligibility. Check with your counselor.

2. Sign up to take the SAT and/or the ACT at least once in the spring and again next fall. Register online (get information from guidance office). Fee waivers are available for students with financial need.

3. Ask your counselor about taking the SAT Subject Tests in the spring. You should take them while the course material is still fresh in your mind.

4. If you’re in Advanced Placement classes, register for the AP exams, given in May. You can earn college credit for courses not given in the AP program by taking the CLEP tests at a college test center. See for more information.

Over the summer

1. If you are an athlete planning to continue playing a sport in college, register with the NCAA eligibility center ().

2. Find a full-time or part-time job, participate in camp or summer college program (for example, UCR’s summer academy).

3. Take campus tours, and at colleges you’re serious about, make appointments to have interviews with admissions counselors.

4. Check application dates for colleges to which you will apply—some universities may have early dates or rolling admissions.