Access your CaliforniaColleges.edu account.

August

Review your academic record and profile, and determine not only if you are on track for graduation but also how to strengthen your candidacy for your intended post-high school goals.

Use CaliforniaColleges.edu to determine what it takes to be considered for admission to the college(s) of your choice, including GPA and test score requirements. Refine your tentative college list accordingly and update your journal/resume.

Review the schedules for the SAT, ACT with writing, and AP exams. Determine if you should take any of these exams and how they could benefit you, and sign up and prepare for the exams you decide to take. Register for whichever test or tests (SAT or ACT) you will need.

Focus on earning good grades! Maintaining your GPA EVERY year is especially important.

Have a life outside of school! You should participate in extracurricular activities that you truly enjoy…not only because finding your passion in life is important, but also because college admissions officers seek candidates who have accomplished something in an area about which they genuinely care.

Create or update your 4-year plan.

Look for scholarship opportunities.

September

Register for the PSAT exam offered in October (NP will announce the sign-up procedures). Remember that when you take the PSAT in your junior year, the scores will count towards the National Achievement Program (and it is good practice for the SAT Reasoning Test). Use this link to take a full-length practice SAT/ACT and to familiarize yourself with general testing requirements for colleges.

Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.

October

Take the PSAT. Use Naviance to create/further narrow your list of colleges to include a few with requirements that coincide with your current GPA, a few with requirements above your current GPA, and at least one with requirements below your GPA. Your list should contain approximately 8-12 schools you are seriously considering. Start researching your financial aid options as well.

Consider going on some campus tours. You and your parent(s) may want to visit the colleges and universities during spring break and summer vacation, so that you do not have to miss school.

Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.

November

Continue to refine your college list and to study the websites of the colleges that you are seriously considering.

Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.

December /January

You will receive your scores from the October PSAT. Review your PSAT results in order to identify your strengths and to determine the areas that you may need to improve upon. To improve your score, you can continue to prepare for the SAT/ACT exam(s) you should taking in the Spring and then possibly again during Fall of your senior year.

Continue to look for scholarship opportunities. Continue refining your college search.

February

Find out from each college you have saved in CaliforniaColleges.edu the deadlines for applying for admission and which tests to take. Make sure your test dates give colleges enough time to receive test scores. It is a good idea to take the SAT and/or ACT in the spring to allow you time to review your results and retake the exams in the fall of your senior year, if necessary.

Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.

March/April

Refine your college interest list.

Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.

May/June

Take the ACT with writing or the SAT .

Take the AP/IB exams if you have taken any AP/IB classes.

Find out if any of the colleges to which you intend to apply REQUIRE letters of recommendation. If so, talk to teachers and your counselor about writing them for you. Think about what you would like included in these letters (how you would like to be presented) and politely ask your teachers and your counselor if they can accommodate you. Be sure to fill out the student brag survey for both teachers and your counselor.

To get a head start on applying to colleges, familiarize yourself with THIS.

Add any new report cards, test scores, honors, or awards to your file/resume. Visit colleges. During your visits, find out if you can talk to professors, sit in on classes, spend a night in the dorms, and speak to students about the college(s). Some colleges have preview programs that allow you to do all of these; find out which of the schools that you will be visiting offer these programs and take advantage of them.

If you go on interviews or visits, don’t forget to send thank you notes. Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.

Summer Before Your Senior Year

Narrow your college list and find out exactly how you need to apply to each campus. Create accounts when the application cycle allows you to do so, and make note of dates that the other apps will be available. Focus on essay portions of the applications that require them, and decide how you would like to present yourself.

Decide if you are going to apply under a particular college’s early decision or early action programs. These programs require/allow you to submit your applications early, typically between October and December of your senior year, but offer the benefit of receiving the college’s decision concerning your admission early, usually before January 1. If you choose to apply early, you should do so for the college/university that is your first choice in schools to attend. Many early decision programs are legally binding, requiring you to attend the college you are applying to, should they accept you.

Activate and maintain your account at CaliforniaColleges.Edu .

• Continue to earn good grades in courses aligned to your post-high school goals.
• Review NPHS graduation requirements (in your Q account) and ensure that you are on track to meet them.

Compare the GPA you have earned thus far with the profiles of admitted college students (see www.collegevine.com/changing tool) for the colleges in which you are interested.

Using CaliforniaColleges.Edu , begin a college/post-secondary search. Research the different types of schools and decide which characteristics are most important to you (such as the size of the school, location, cost, majors, and admissions criteria).

• Update (or begin) your college file so you can stay organized.
• Update (or create) your 4-year plan.
• Continue (or begin) extracurricular activities you are truly passionate about. Do not seek activities that do not interest you simply because you think (or heard) they will “look good to colleges.”

Prepare for standardized testing. Consider taking the PSAT in October (it is only offered one time a year). It is valuable as practice for when you take the PSAT again in your junior year (when the scores will count for National Merit Scholarship consideration), as well as for the SAT you should take during your junior year (after the PSAT). Use the FREE test-prep resources HERE to help you determine which test (the SAT or ACT) best suits you and to improve your familiarity with either/both.