Also, help yourself now:
- Make a list of all your ECs, when you did them, about how many hours a week, and descriptions.
- You only get 10 slots for ECs on common app, so start categorizing them. Like you may want to categorize all music ECs together, or split them up somewhat.
- Make sure to mention what leadership you have in those ECs, even if not a formal position…and talk about what you did as a leader.
- Choose a Common App essay prompt
- Write a draft of your essay this summer. Give it to your GC/English teacher to review in the fall.
- If you haven’t already, choose who you want to ask to write recommendations for you. If your major is STEM, ask a Math and a science teacher.
- See what your HS Guidance office wants you to do for college apps…(look on their website)…Do they want you to complete a brag sheet or something else to help the GC?
- Visit some local colleges…like your State flagship, a smaller private school…see what you like and don’t like about them.
- Come up with a list of what you want in a college…major, location, urban/rural, size, etc etc
- Based on that, use Naviance, Supermatch (here on CC), Fiske Guide, etc to come up with a list of colleges
- Find out from your parents how much they can spend on college each year
- Run the Net Price Calculator on those colleges to see if they are affordable
- If not, look at colleges that give automatic scholarships and see if they are good for you http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html#latest
- Try to visit some of those colleges over the summer if possible
- Do all this and you will thank me in the fall…you will be taking the toughest courses of your academic career and usually having leadership activities in your ECs…you will be so busy but so happy you have all the grunt work out of the way for college apps.