Steps to Take in Junior Year to Prepare for College Application Season

College application season begins for many students in the summer after Junior year.

In preparation, there are

several preliminary steps Juniors can take now to make the college application season less stressful.

• Get to know the colleges on your preliminary list

  • Take a deeper dive into researching colleges of interest in Reach, Target, and Likely categories.

  • Request to be on the schools' contact lists.

  • Schedule in-person visits or virtual tours.

  • Touch base with the area admissions rep for each school to express interest and ask questions.

    
    

• Maintain a college-specific email address

  • Creating and using a separate email account specifically for college planning can help you stay organized.

  • Provide your college-specific email to colleges so that all college-related correspondence is kept in one place.

  • Use this email when creating a Common App account.

  • Consider giving password access to a parent so they can help you stay on top of details and deadlines.

  • Any free account is fine, and you might want to consider an address with your first name, last name, and high school grad year.

    • Example: natejones28@gmail.com

  • When finished with the college admission process, you can close this account if you choose.

    
    

• Organize your honors/awards, activities, and test scores

  • Keep track of these high school experiences starting with the summer before 9th grade.

    • For activities, include notes on your significant contributions, school years of involvement, and amount of time spent when applicable.

    • Growing2College students can track details in their High School Experience Log, which corresponds to the questions in the Common App.

    
    

• Plan for teacher recommendations

  • Colleges usually prefer recommendations from academic teachers (math, science, English, social studies, and sometimes international language) from Junior year.

  • Asking for college recommendation letters during the spring semester of Junior year (informally) will help those teachers remember to take note of events/qualities to include in their letters.

  • Know the process and timeline for officially requesting recommendation letters at your school. More detailed info can be found here: Recommendation Letters for College Admission

    
    

• Know how to obtain official and unofficial transcripts

  • Over the summer before Senior year, you can use your unofficial transcript to complete portions of the Common App.

  • At some schools, only school officials send official transcripts. Other schools may use a self-serve platform like Parchment.

    
    

• Create a testing timeline

  • Students typically take the ACT/SAT roughly two to five times, as early as the summer before Junior year through the fall of Senior year.

  • The ideal timeline within that window is unique to each student.

  • It can help to research resources and tutoring options.

    
    

If you have extra bandwidth in spring semester of Junior year and want to get a jump start on your college applications:

• Create your Common App account

  • Some parts of the Common App can be completed early if desired.

    • The My Common Application section asks for demographic, academic, and extracurricular info that can be completed at any time.

    • The Common App resets every year on August 1st with updated information from each participating college. Until August 1st of your application year, do not begin completing the My Colleges section.

      
      

• Begin thinking about your Common App main personal essay

  • Main essay prompts for the upcoming application cycle are usually available by February on the Common App website.

    • During spring semester of Junior year, you might start brainstorming potential topics so you're ready to begin writing your essay after school lets out for the summer.

College application season is a busy and often stressful time. Completing some of the related tasks throughout Junior year will help make the process more manageable.

At Growing2College, we assist students and families with college planning, as well as college application and essay coaching. Request a free 20-min consultation to learn more about how we can be helpful.

Kate Pedigo, M.Ed. NCC is an Independent Educational Consultant and founder of Growing2College. Join us on social media for college planning updates, tips, and resources: Facebook   Instagram   LinkedIn