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High School Senior
College Checklist
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SENIOR YEAR
 Start organizing. Go to the library and study college directories. Make a list of several
colleges that match your education, financial and social growth goals.
 Talk to your high school counselor.' He or she will have advice and information about
colleges in your area. Send for catalogs and information from distant colleges. In your
letters to college admissions directors, mention that you need information about
application procedures, financial aid, housing and entrance exams.
 From your high school counseling office obtain information about the Scholastic
Aptitude Test and other tests your college requires for admission. You will be able to
see a sample SAT. Register to take the SAT and other admissions tests. Your counselor
will have forms for you to fill out and send away. Remember your test date!
 As colleges respond with application forms, keep track of the deadlines for completing
and returning them. Begin to form ideas for the admissions essays required for nearly
all schools. Write a few rough drafts of the essays. If you plan carefully you won't have
to rush. Follow the directions for the essay, which appear, on the application form. Fill
the general information section in carefully and neatly.
 Choose your references. Your college will want reference letters from two or three
teachers. Decide who knows you well and will write a good letter recommending you as
a capable student ready for college work. Thank these people later with follow-up notes.
 If your college has a December application deadline (dates vary), finish up admissions
procedures this month. Finalize your plans. Give your recommenders their forms for
your reference letters, and remember to provide a stamped self-addressed envelope to
ease and ensure mailing.
 Contact your counselor. He or she will have to send copies of your high school records
to the colleges you've chosen to apply to. Remind him or her of these deadlines.
 Ask your counselor for financial aid forms. If you and your parents need help filling
these forms out, don't hesitate to ask. Make sure these forms are properly filled out and
safely mailed before the deadline.
 If your college had a December application deadline, you can relax a bit. You should
have taken the SAT by now (and any other entrance exam), your reference letters are on
the way, your grade records have been mailed, and your application and essays have
been completed. If your college has a February or later application deadline, keep busy
with the paperwork.
 Re-double your efforts to get application procedures complete by the end of this month.
Make sure you have applied for financial aid (this does not automatically happen). If
colleges need more of any sort of information, supply it quickly.
 Continue to send out whatever information is still being completed. If your college asks
that you have a physical examination before registering for fall classes, arrange to get
one and ask the doctor to complete the medical form. Again, provide a stamped Selfaddressed envelope for each school you apply to.
 By the end of the month all application, letters and test results should be at the colleges
to which you've applied. Now you're finished. Concentrate on high school graduation.
 Make final plans for graduation!
 Write to the college you have decided to attend and let them know that you plan to
register for fall classes. They will send course descriptions and schedules. Remember to
write to the colleges you have rejected. Thank them and say simply that you have
decided that another college better suits your particular needs.
COMPLETED
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