Best way to utilize junior year?

Applying to College
1

<p>So I am in my jun. year right now, and I am currently studying for my sat I and ap classes (4). After I take my sat (assuming I get my target score on the first time), how should I be spending the rest of my time outside of hw and studying?</p>

<p>Should I start ahead for questbridge? I am tentative about it though, since even if I do get the RD benefits, Stanford (my #1 choice) doesn't accept the qb application so they won't even see my extra essays.</p>

<p>Should I begin planning out my college essays and working on the commonapp?</p>

<p>Lastly, what is a really good college guide that you would personally recommend?</p>

2

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<p>Do you mean a guide to college admissions or a guide to colleges? If the former, I like Admission Matters by Sally Springer.</p>

<p>If you know what colleges you’re interested in applying to, look at their essays prompts for this year and start brainstorming ideas (most keep the same prompts from year to year). Summer is early enough for the actual writing, but it helps to jot ideas down when you think of them.</p>

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<p>Both now that I think about.</p>

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<p>I think the Fiske Guide is a nice place to start in terms of college guides. </p>

<p>Also, these aren’t really college guides, but I think they have a lot of good info - The Gatekeepers (Jacques Steinberg) and A is for Admission (Michele Hernandez). The Gatekeepers is especially interesting, IMO.</p>

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<p>okay, so now that I know what books to check, what about my other questions?</p>

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<p>When I was in my Junior year, I was planning out my essays for QuestBridge and it definitely paid off! I’m now a finalist for the College Match scholarship. Towards the end of the year, I would ask the teachers that know you best to start thinking about recommendations for you just to give them a lot of time to think about what to say. If you don’t have a lot of community service hours, I would start packing them in because that is a major thing colleges look at, unless you have circumstances preventing you from volunteering. If you aren’t sure about applying for QB, look at their website or go the the facebook group and ask people if it was worth applying for even if they didn’t get matched. If your school has people that got accepted through QB, ask them for advice. That’s what I did last year and that really encouraged me to apply.</p>