I’m a freshman right now, and once this academic year ends in March I’ll be a sophomore. I should be in college September 2021, the year I turn 18, finish twelfth grade and graduate high school. So how early, exactly, should I decide on a college and orient myself towards it and also I see people talking about “Class of 2022” so I’m confused about how early SCEA is exactly, because if you’re in college at age 18/19 in 2022, it seems like you should be applying during infancy
They mean that they would be graduating college in 2022.
For Yale, the application deadline is 11/1 of the senior year in HS, with decisions released mid-December.
SCEA deadlines are generally in November of your senior year of high school.
The years being referred to are the college graduating years of the classes being discussed. So for example the class of 2022 refers to the high school seniors graduating this year and entering college in the fall of 2018.
While some kids and families start planning on college from middle school, I think it is more usual for students and families to begin thinking about options in earnest after sophomore year. You will have a better idea of interests and fit, things like academics, geography, big school/small school, public/private and finances. Some families may even tour some colleges in the summer after sophomore year to get an idea of the feel of various campuses. The lists tend to focus and develop during junior year as high school gpa and rank begin to solidify and test results come in. Most students will have at least 1 SAT or ACT plus some SAT 2 and AP’s results by the end of their junior year. With that information in hand, students and families will be able better assess the likelihood of admissions in the colleges they are interested in. You’ll see references on this site to “safety”, “match” and “reach” schools. It’s also important at this time to assess the affordability of the schools on your list.
Most people will advise that you should begin to prepare your college applications during the summer of your junior year. This includes beginning to at least outline and draft the essays that will be required and to start lining up your teacher recommendations. Many families will also do their college visits during the summer. You do all of this because many colleges, especially state colleges, have rolling admissions which open late summer/early fall. Often those are safety or match schools. Also scholarships get awarded in those cases also often on a rolling basis, so you want to get in line first assuming your application is ready and in good shape. The ED and EA deadlines are usually around November 1. At that time you will needed to have completed your testing and all of the required essays and other materials in the application. Work backwards from that deadline and you can see that you want to get a lot of stuff underway in the summer before school starts with classes, homework, EC’s and perhaps test preparation demanding significant time and attention.
@user2003 : I notice that you mentioned that your academic year ends in March. I know in Japan academic year ends in March. In America, academic year ends in June. Also, since this post is on Yale thread, I assume you are targeting the most selective schools. Extracurricular activities (ECs) and course rigors are of ultimate importance for that category of schools. Please focus on what you can do now. For the most selective schools, candidates should have completed the most difficult courses available to them at school before they graduate. Actually I have seen many extreme cases that people go to neighboring colleges to take college courses to make their credentials stand out. Backtrack from that, you will get an idea what courses you need to take now. And ECs should have lead to leadership positions. A few deeply involved ECs with leadership position are much better than a long list of ECs with no focus.
I’d recommend that you give up the idea of finding a dream school. Instead, when the time comes honestly assess your academic stats (including course rigor, GPA, standardized tests) and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. Cast a wide net and recognize that (assuming no major hook) a school like Yale is a reach for pretty much everyone – with an acceptance rate of well under 10% there is not enough space for Yale and similarly competitive colleges to accept all of the extremely well qualified candidates.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.