Higher Education Timeline: Senior Year

Fall

• Continue to take a full course load of college-prep courses.
  
  
• Keep working on your grades. Make sure you have taken the courses necessary to graduate in the spring.
  
  
• Continue to participate in extracurricular and volunteer activities. Demonstrate initiative, creativity, commitment, and leadership in each.
  
  
• To male students: you must register for selective service on your eighteenth birthday to be eligible for federal and state financial aid.
  
  
• Talk to counselors, teachers, and parents about your final college choices.
  
  
• Make a calendar showing application deadlines for admission, financial aid, and scholarships.
  
  
• Check resource books, computer programs, and your guidance office for information on scholarships and grants. Ask colleges about scholarships for which you may qualify.
  
  
• Give recommendation forms to the teachers you have chosen, along with stamped, self-addressed envelopes so your teachers can send them directly to the colleges. Be sure to fill out your name, address, and school name on the top of the form. Talk to you recommendation writers about your goals and ambitions.
  
  
• Give School Report forms to your high school’s guidance office. Fill in your name, address, and any other required information on top. Verify with your guidance counselor the schools to which transcripts, test scores, and letters are to be sent. Give your counselor any necessary forms at least two weeks before they are due or whenever your counselor’s deadline is, whichever is earlier.
  
  
• Register for and take the ACT Assessment, SAT I, or SAT II Subject Tests, as necessary.
  
  
• Be sure you have requested (either by mail or online) that your test scores be sent to the colleges of your choice.
  
  
• Mail or send electronically any college applications for early-decision admission by November 1.
  
  
• If possible, visit colleges while classes are in session.
  
  
• If you plan to apply for an ROTC scholarship, remember that your application is due by December 1.
  
  
• Print extra copies or make photocopies of every application you send.

Winter

• Attend whatever college-preparatory nights are held at your school or by local organizations.
  
  
• Send midyear grade reports to colleges. Continue to focus on your schoolwork!
  
  
• Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and, if necessary, PROFILE®. These forms can be obtained from your guidance counselor or at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov to download the forms or to file electronically. These forms may not be processed before January 1, so don’t send them before then.
  
  
• Mail or send electronically any remaining applications and financial aid forms before winter break. Make sure you apply to at least one college that you know you can afford and where you know you will be accepted.
  
  
• Follow up to make sure that the colleges have received all application information, including recommendations and test scores.
  
  
• Meet with your counselor to verify that all applicable forms are in order and have been sent out to colleges.

Spring

• Watch your mail between March 1 and April 1 for acceptance notifications from colleges.
  
  
• Watch your mail for notification of financial aid awards between April 1 and May 1.
  
  
• Compare the financial aid packages from the colleges and universities that have accepted you.
  
  
• Make your final choice, and notify all schools of your intent by May 1. If possible, do not decide without making at least one campus visit. Send your nonrefundable deposit to your chosen school by May 1 as well. Request that your guidance counselor send a final transcript to the college in June.
  
  
• Be sure that you have received a FAFSA acknowledgment.
  
  
• If you applied for a Pell Grant (on the FAFSA), you will receive the Student Aid Report (SAR) statement. Review this Pell notice, and forward it to the college you plan to attend. Make a copy for your record.
  
  
• Complete follow-up paperwork for the college of your choice (scheduling, orientation session, housing arrangements, and other necessary forms).

Summer

• If applicable, apply for a Stafford Loan through a lender. Allow eight weeks for processing.
  
  
• Receive the orientation schedule from your college.
  
  
• Get residence hall assignment from your college.
  
  
• Obtain course scheduling and cost information from your college.
  
  
• Congratulations! You are about to begin the greatest adventure of your life. Good luck.