Junior CHECKLIST

Register for a Spring SAT or ACT.  See the Testing page for more information.

Study for the SAT or ACT.  Take practice tests.  See the Test Prep section on this page.

Use the tools in Career Exploration and Choose a Major to help you identify your interests, explore occupations, and what you can do with different college majors.

Consider your summer plans now:  taking a pre-college summer program or a community college course in an area of interest.  Do community service, internship, or a job.  

Update your Resume on Naviance by clicking the arrow by your profile pic and selecting Resume.   See Building a Resume.

Attend any College & Career Center's Academies designed to help Juniors with the college application process.

Learn how to build a good college list.  Use the College Spreadsheet  to help you analyze these schools and later manage your applications.

Research colleges on Naviance (use SuperMatch and Scattergrams) and CollegeBoard.org.  Learn about their campus, activities, majors, special opportunities, costs, and what it takes to get accepted.  

Add colleges to "Colleges I'm thinking about" in Naviance.  (By having colleges on this list, you'll be notified in the fall when those colleges visit our campus.  No one outside your school sees this list.)

Consider applying to any contests/awards you may qualify for based on extracurricular activities or academics, contests.

Keep up your grades - get support if needed.

Consider enrolling in an online summer college course to help you explore an area of interest or to further your academics.   Also look at pre-college programs under Summer Programs.  Pre-college programs are offered at many universities and are designed specifically for high school students.

Find other meaningful experiences for the summer, such as a job or other extracurricular activities.

Take the SAT or ACT on the date you registered 

Continue to build your college list and complete the College Spreadsheet.

Understand college costs and college financing.  Use the College Cost Calculator .

If you'd like to discuss your post-graduation plans, make an appointment with your College & Career Advisor.

Plan college tours over the summer.  See College Visits.

Ask one teacher for a Letter of Recommendation for college applications next fall.  Check to see which of your colleges need this letter.  Some colleges don't need one (UC's/CSU's); some colleges need just one from an academic teacher; other colleges may need 2 letters (one from a humanities teacher, one from a STEM teacher).  Check college freshman admissions websites for requirements.

Attend any College & Career Center's Academy Sessions designed to help Juniors.

Take AP exams in May for any AP courses you took this year.

Consider taking a College Essay workshop over the summer.

Review your transcript and correct any errors.

If you received a grade of "D" or "F" in an academic a-g course, you will need to retake that course in summer school to make up that grade so that you can be eligible to apply to a California public college (CSU or UC).  See your guidance counselor for more information.

This summer do the following Naviance tasks:

1. • Student statement

   • Parent Brag sheet

   • Resume  (See Building a Resume )

   • Teacher Recommendation survey

   • Move colleges from the "thinking about" list to the "applying to" list.

Review all the summer tasks under Summer before Senior Year.

Attend a College Essay Workshop

Start drafting your essays.  See College Essay Tips.  We'll help you edit those essays in the fall.