Freshman Year

• Think about and research career options with the goal of exploring not settling on one answer.

• Try and explore different activities and groups that you enjoy or might enjoy spending time doing.

• Find a non-profit that you are enthusiastic about helping and volunteering. Help make the lives of other people and your community better.

• Focus on getting the best grades you can. Learn to ask for help when you struggle.

• Get a summer job or internship. Learn what it means to work for someone and take direction. It does not have to be in your chosen field. A summer of mowing lawns or handing people fries will improve your perspective.

Sophomore Year

• Continue to think about your career goals. If you've decided on one or two, talk to people in that field and ask what the work and career are like. Ask what they wish they had done differently.

• Fully commit to the things that you enjoy doing and set personal goals for accomplishing something: a .320 batting average, getting to the state science fair, getting a 1 division at solo and ensemble, raising money with your school organization for a charity, etc. Then create a plan to achieve those goals and ask adults for help with your plan.

• Continue focusing on your academic subjects and get the best grades you can.

• Take courses that challenge you.

• Develop professional relationships with teachers, counselors, sponsors, etc.

• Through your work or volunteering, develop your self-reliance and confidence to be a part of a team. Show initiative in these areas. Ask for responsibility.

• Take a couple of practice SATs in preparation for the PSAT. Do SAT/ACT prep from either free videos online or through a paid tutoring service (sorry, Rally Advising does not do SAT prep). Do not go overboard. Your SAT score is a small data point; however, a great score on the PSAT can earn you significant scholarships.

• Go on a college tour, even if it's not a college you're interested. Listen to the tour guide and figure out what you do and do not care about at school. Get a feel for what you want from college. Think about what living in a dorm will be like.

Junior Year

• Continue to perform as well as you can in classes and take courses that challenge you.

• Focus on the goals you made the previous year. Set new goals if you already accomplished them. Consider how you're leaving an impact on the groups you belong to.

• Continue to build your confidence and impact at work or in your volunteer activities.

• Develop professional relationships with teachers, counselors, sponsors, etc.

• Come to some kind of decision on your career goals and the major(s) you'll need to do in college. If you're undecided, sit down and narrow what you're interested in to at least a dozen or so majors.

• Tour schools that you're interested in attending. Have a conversation with your parents after about what you liked and didn't like.

• Take the PSAT and at least 2 SAT/ACT tests by May. If you're not happy with your scores, do more test prep and take it a third time in the summer before your senior year.

• Have a conversation with your parents about how much your family can realistically afford for school. Sit down with your family and figure out a budget for school and living away from home.

• Go to college fairs and talk to the school representatives.

• Create a preliminary list of schools that you're interested in. Take a virtual tour of all the ones you can't visit. Follow them all on Instagram and scroll through their feed to get a feel of the school. 

• Have a conversation with a college counselor or me about your realistic chances at the schools on your preliminary list. Be open to suggestions.

• Research the scholarships available at schools and outside scholarships you might be eligible for.

• End of junior year, ask the adults who have observed you professionally to write you a letter of recommendation.

Senior Year

Summer

• Work on your essays and short answers during the summer before your senior year.

• Create a spreadsheet with each college, their deadline, scholarships offered, questions asked, etc. Put the deadlines on your phone's calendar and set reminders. This will keep you organized.

• Create a standard and expanded resume.

August

• Go back over your application list and make sure it is doable and is likely to produce good results and give you multiple options.

• Fill out the Common App with your counselor, schools, and basic identifying information.

• Work on revising your essays, resume, and short answers. Get feedback from a teacher or other professional.

• Communicate with your letters of recommendation writers the process of how they will submit their letters.

September-October

• Work on applications due Oct 15-Nov 1.

• Continue to revise and get feedback on your essays.

• Check application deadlines for private scholarships like the Coke Foundation or Stamps Scholars.

• Double check deadlines for the school's honors college or to receive certain financial aid.

• Submit your Oct 15 deadline schools

• Fill out the FAFSA as soon as it opens

• Fill out the CSS profile and have it sent to schools if they require it.

• Send your test scores to schools that require an official report.

• Continue to work on and revise your application materials for your November 1 deadlines.

November-December

• Submit November and December applications on time. 

• Complete scholarship applications.

• Begin work on regular decision applications due in January.

• Discussion decisions you receive in December with your parents and school counselors, but do not make a decision.

• If you receive admissions from an Early Decision application, withdraw all your other applications.

• Send your letters of recommendation writers a thank-you card and small gift (state and district employees are prohibited from accepting gifts over $50).

January-February

• Complete and submit your regular decision applications.

• Complete all private scholarship applications.

• Investigate the housing process at the schools you are most likely to attend.

• Start acquiring all the skills you haven't acquired that you'll need to live on your own (laundry, cooking, car maintenance, managing your health, etc.)

March-April

• Receive decisions and vent your feelings about the "no's" to someone. Don't hold it in or wallow in the "no's."

• If you're placed on a waitlist, find out how you confirm your continued interest or withdraw your application from further consideration.

• When you have all decisions and financial aid offers, sit down and discuss the best opportunity at the lowest cost.

• Contact a school about any questions regarding their financial aid offer.

• Make a choice of the school you will attend in the fall. Accept their offer, put down your deposit, and work your way through their system to get housing and schedule summer orientation.

• Decline all your other offers.

• Buy yourself a sweatshirt or other gear from your chosen school; it helps finalize the decision in your head.

• Tell everyone (especially your recommenders) where you are headed and let them celebrate with you.