Prepare for College Application Time
If you have a rising high school senior, summer is when you should start to prepare for college application time. Before you know it, senior year will be starting and classes, activities and college applications will be in full swing. While your student has a little more free time to focus, make sure she or he has taken initial steps to make life easier this fall.
Summer College Application Preparation
- Start or update an activity resume – Click Here to download my helpful activity resume template
- Decide on/contact recommendation writers – Make sure your student lines up at least 2 teachers, a school counselor and 2 community members who can write good recommendation letters.
- Start working through potential college application essay topics – If your student is planning to apply to schools using the Common App, he or she should review the common app essay topics for the coming college application season to determine which topic he or she will use. It is also a great time to start writing essay drafts.
- Schedule college visits – If possible, your student should visit every college she or he plans to apply to. Although summer is a quiet time on most campuses, it may be the only time to fit in some critical college visits before a hectic senior year.
- Schedule application interviews – Make sure your student knows which, if any, of the colleges he or she is applying to require or recommend college application interviews. Get these done over the summer or scheduled for early fall.
- Finalize the college list – Going into September, the goal is for your student to have a final list of colleges to apply to. This will make planning for college application season much easier.
There are many things your rising high school senior can do over the summer to make the upcoming college application season easier. Knowing how busy and stressful senior year can be, anything done now to prepare for college application time will put him or her ahead of the curve when school starts this fall.