A Timeline for your Senior Year -- Get Ready for College

Have you given any thought to college?  Do you know where you want to go?  Do you know what you will major in?  Do you know how you will pay for it?  Do you know what you should be doing now, and throughout this year, to make it happen??

If not, here’s a timeline to help you stay on track and get ready for college.

Complete college admissions applications.

Beginning in September, apply to 3 to 6 colleges that you would consider attending next fall.  Don’t rule out any college at which you truly feel you can be comfortable as a student.  Pick one or two favorites, where you would go immediately if they accept you and you get enough financial aid.   Then pick one or two more that you know would be good for you, but are really your second choice.  Then pick one that is your “reach” school – you probably won’t get accepted, but if you did, and you had enough financial aid, you’d love to go there, and then . . . pick a college that you’re sure you can go to if all else fails (your “safety” school).  All college admissions applications should be completed by the end of the 1st semester of your senior year. (Exception:  If you don’t have a high enough GPA or ACT to be accepted, wait until after the 1st semester is completed, but this only works if you improve either of these, so work like you’ve never worked before!!)

Complete college scholarships applications.

As you complete the admissions application for each college, complete the scholarship application, too.  Watch deadlines – colleges are strict about this! 

 Schedule college visits.

Make an appointment and visit every college you want to apply to.  You should meet with an admissions representative, someone in financial aid, look at the dorms, talk to current college students, attend a class, and visit with a professor in the area you plan to major in; i.e., engineering, mass communications, business, etc.  You get two college visits per year (these are school business), but you will probably need more than two. Schedule college visits when we are not in school or on week-ends.  Most colleges host Senior Days, when prospective students and parents are invited to the campus for an entire day or weekend, and these are often on Saturdays, in conjunction with a ballgame.

Write your resume.

You need this for some college applications, all privately-funded scholarships, and for letters of recommendation.

Ask at least two people for letters of recommendation.

At least one should be from a teacher, but also consider getting letters from coaches, a principal, family friend or long-time associate. You may not get one from a relative.  You will need these for most scholarship applications.   Letters of recommendation are often the determining factor in whether or not you get into a college, or get the scholarship, particularly if you just nominally meet the criteria.

Apply for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship.

Beginning October 1, Go to www.adhe.edu, open the YOUniveral application box, create an account, and complete the profile and application.  When you have finished, you will receive the message that your application has been successfully submitted. You can check the status of your application any time by logging onto your account.  Arkansas Dept. of Higher Education (ADHE) will always e-mail you when they have news for you regarding your scholarship application status.  Make sure you use a good e-mail address that you will use throughout college; they will always communicate with you through e-mail.

Apply for federal financial aid.

This is required for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship, even if you think you will be ineligible for financial aid.  Go to www.fafsa.gov to complete the FAFSA (free application for student aid).  This application is open to you mid-December.  Be sure to complete the 2024-2025 application!  Federal financial aid includes both federal and state grants, college work-study, and loans.  You may need all or just some of these to get enough money for college, but one application is for everything!  The federal government determines what you are eligible for and how much.

Complete your housing application and pay your deposit.

If you will be living in the dorm, you must get this done as early as possible to ensure that you get a dorm room and hopefully, the one you want. 

Apply for privately-funded scholarships.

These will be available to you from January through May, and vary in amount.  The organization giving the scholarship determines the criteria for the recipient, but you should consider applying for all of them, even if you think you will not be eligible, because, many times, not a lot of people apply and your application may be the best one!

Make the final decision where you will attend college.

By May 1st, you should have decided where you will be going to college.  Then you notify all those who offered you a scholarship of your choice.  You should have received a financial aid package from each college you applied to, and based on the criteria you have chosen to use as a determining factor, you need to make your final choice so that you have time to get all the paperwork, summer orientation application, financial aid information, etc., completed before school starts in August.

If you thought the college application process would be quick and easy, think again!!  It will take this entire senior year to get ready for college, if you are doing all that you should be doing, and taking advantage of every opportunity. 

Don’t throw opportunities away –keep all doors open wide so that you have more choices.  Once a deadline passes and you miss it, that door just shut to you, meaning you have one less choice in your future. 

Don’t apply to just one college, because then you have only one choice.  If you don’t get a scholarship to that college, but missed deadlines for other college scholarships, then you may not have the money to go to college anywhere – another door just closed!  Keep all your options open by applying, applying, applying!

RESOURCES

To apply for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship or Arkansas Governors' Distinguished Scholars, go to this website.  One application will apply you for anything and everything administered by ADHE that you are eligible to receive.

www.adhe.edu

To apply for federal and state grants, college work-study, and/orloans, complete this application on-line. 

www.fafsa.gov

Register on-line for the ACT

www.actstudent.org

Register on-line for the SAT I or SAT II subject tests.

www.sat.collegeboard.com