What to do after getting accepted?

College Life
1

Hi, I am planning to read over the catalog of my school that I got accepted to. What other things would you guys recommend for me to do from now on till college starts?
Thanks

2

Do well in your last semester of high school. Getting D or F grades, or substantially worse GPA than previously, can result in your admission being rescinded. Check the admission notification for any conditions that you must meet.

If you will be living at the school, apply for housing.

When looking through the catalog, consider what majors you are interested in and figure out what set of prerequisite courses you need to take in your first year to ensure that you can select any of them without being behind on the prerequisites (being behind may cause you to need an extra semester if you choose that major).

Review placement guidelines for entry-level courses. If you expect to have AP credit that can place you into a more advanced course that you plan on taking, during the summer, try the old final exams of the courses that you may skip.

3

Have you actually visited the school? Does the school have an accepted students day? If possible, go to that.

4

We sent in a refundable housing deposit on the school my daughter is most interested in attending. If it’s close enough for you to attend an admitted students’ day, you try to go to that. We took my daughter on a second visit and she was far more excited about the whole thing. She really pictured herself living there and attending classes.

5

Really pay attention to the mail and emails they send you. Don’t miss any deadlines for paperwork, deposits, tuition bills, etc. that are due to them. If you are taking out federal loans, make sure you take all those steps at all. One thing both my kids had to do is get some extra immunizations before arriving in the fall, and one of their colleges required a TB test! (which has some lead time to check the results, so if you need to do that, get it taken care of). But their forms should tell you that.

If you can register for an orientation session (if there is more than one date), do that. If you are looking at the course catalog to pick classes, make a pretty long list of classes you are interested in. Frosh are way down the list on registration priority, so you may not get most of your first choices. And be prepared that you may have to take sections at odd times (early, for example!) to get the courses you want. Although one of my kids used Rate My Professor to evaluate profs, and was willing to take an early class if that was all she could get with the best profs. She was able to get up for classes, so this paid off for her.

6

Also, check if orientation session date matters in terms of frosh registration priority (i.e. do those who go to earlier orientations get first choice among frosh?). If so, plan and sign up for the earliest possible orientation that you can attend.

7

Just to build off of what @ucbalumnus‌ said – if earlier orientation means earlier registration, make sure to nab a spot in the earliest opening; at my school, students who went to the latest orientation had far fewer available courses, professors, and sections to choose from than those who went to earlier orientations.

8

KEEP UP YOUR GRADES.

9

  1. Make a list of all deadlines between now and leaving: housing, classes, payment, etc

  2. Sign-up for any orientation. See if there’s one right before classes start in the fall (my uni offered one) that would allow you move-in a few days early. Move-in weekend can be pretty hectic otherwise.

  3. Start making a list of things you want to take to college. Depending on how you’ll be traveling you might be shipping some of it. If you have any siblings or friends that are already in college, run this list by them to see if you need to add or remove anything.

  4. Find the Facebook group of your freshman class. “X University Class of 2019” or whatever. It’s fun to share and feed-off of the energy of other accepted students. It, along with orientation, is a great way to make a few early friends and maybe find a roommate or two.

  5. Look at the classes offered in the fall and list some you think you’d like. Like others have said, pickings will be slim, so expect to get mostly intro classes or random electives. It helps to look at your school’s webpage for general curriculum requirements, picking a few of those to make sure you stay on track.

I’m sure there are more, but those seem like the biggest ones. Congrats!