Juniors

Junior Year - An Important

and Busy Year

Junior year is an important and critical time in a High Schooler's life, this is the year that the majority of college preparation is being done. It is easy to become overwhelmed during this time, but staying organized and communicating with your support system is important.

Junior year is a great year to take College Prep, AP, and advanced courses in preparation for attending college. However, you want to be sure you have a manageable schedule that will allow you to maintain good grades and a high GPA.

Junior year you will want to start visiting colleges and doing heavy research. You will want to have some serious conversations with your family or guardians about college. You can also start applying for scholarships as early as junior year, some scholarships are specifically for juniors. This is the time to be studying for the SAT, ACT, or TOEFL.

Transcript Reminder: Please make sure that you have gathered your past transcripts from previous schools and sent them to PSA, ONLY if you have not been with us since Freshman year.

Fall of Junior Year

Sign up for all the accounts you will be needing for the college application process. (Common App)
Come up with a rough draft or list of colleges you would like to apply to.
List your nonnegotiable needs when looking into a school.
Plan out who you will be asking for recommendations. Coach, advisor, teacher, staff member, boss, etc. Just have a few people in mind.
Study for the SAT/ACT and take the PSAT.
Sign up for any AP exams.

Spring/Second Semester

This would be a good time to schedule a meeting with your guidance counselor. Having a junior planning session to get organized is important.
Formally ask the people you picked for recommendations, this gives them the summer to write them.
Narrow down your area of study or majors you are interested in.
Consider applying for a summer internship.
Look into college scholarships.

Summer of Junior Year

Start your college essay! If you do this over the summer, you will be in great shape.
This is a good time to add your formal college list into Common App, this can always be changed.
Consider doing some college visits and/or an internship or job shadowing over the summer.
Create a resume if you do not already have on, LinkedIn is also a great resource. You can follow colleges on LinkedIn.
Request any outstanding recs, giving them as much notice as possible is ideal. 2 weeks is the standard for your deadlines, you want them to have time to write quality recs.

You will want to keep in mind deadlines that will come up quickly your senior year, some are in November.

Click the "Applying to College" tab at the top of this page for more information. 😃

Remember to reach out to Guidance or Miss Veatch: guidance@putnamscience.org or lveatch@putnamscience.org for help!

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