College Planning Timeline - Grade 11

The Junior year is probably the most important year for the college choice process, not because the choice is ultimately made during this year, but because of the scope of activities that take place. Parents can expect students to greatly increase the number of colleges they are considering, and feel more confused about their choice than at any other time. This is normal. It will resolve itself in most cases.

Activities to consider:

Juniors must take the PSAT in the Fall of the Junior year in order to be considered for National Merit Scholarships or recognition. If your child is a strong student, and has done well on standardized tests in the past, this could be a crucial step in gaining the recognition of colleges and in receiving consideration for other scholarship funds as well. The test is usually given only once at each school, so don't miss the deadline.

Juniors should also consider taking the SAT in the Spring of the year, or even in both the Winter and the Spring. It is fairly clear that scores on the SAT increase with practice, and many colleges will consider the highest verbal score and the highest math score regardless of whether the scores occurred at the same sitting.

If there are college fairs going on at local community colleges or at the high school, juniors and their families should attend. College fairs give students easy access to sometimes dozens of college representatives. You can browse the brochures, put your name on mailing lists and try out some answers to general questions asked by the admissions reps. In general, you can't schedule individual interviews at college fairs, but you can often grab a quick five minutes with a rep and get some specific questions answered.

This is the year to begin to learn about the financial aid process. If you will be applying for financial aid, you will need to file your federal and state income tax returns immediately after the first of the year of the senior year (you can't wait until April 15th and get the financial aid forms in on time), so the more you know this year, the better prepared you will be for this arduous process.

Schedule college visits during the summer between junior and senior year. Recognize that you will be visiting the college (usually) when there are not many students on campus, so use this visit to ask questions of the admissions rep, get a campus tour, and do your interview. Many colleges have junior visit days in the spring, and they will all have senior visit days or weekends during the Fall of the senior year when you can meet students and ask questions.

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