Hello all! I am a junior in high school looking into BFA Musical Theatre programs in the fall of 2017. I am kind of an overachiever and I really need tips on what I can be doing to prepare now. Anyone feel free to chime in!!! Thanks so much!
Hi there! My D is also a junior this year and we started by making a list of the things she’d like in a college experience in general. Also, now is the time you need to start doing this work so that you can be prepared for any auditions you may do in the Fall. 
Good luck!
You might also check out this thread. There are some very wise ppl on CC.
Talk to your high school guidance counselor now and let him/her know that you will probably have more applications than your classmates and that you will likely also have earlier deadlines. ASK, very politely, how the counselor wants to handle that. Also, mention that you may need to miss several days of school for auditions; clarify the school attendance policy and what you need to do to make sure those absences are excused. You may want to talk to the teachers you plan to ask for recommendations, too, and alert them that you’ll have early deadlines. Again, politely ASK how best to handle this. The advance warning and planning made things go much smoother for my second MT kid.
Others on this forum will have more recent information, but my memory (my second MT kid is graduating college in a month!) is that we aimed for all applications to be submitted and auditions scheduled by October 31. The guidance counselor was just getting revved up for everyone else’s application process to start! But we’d planned for it and the counselor was ready for us 
Ditto what @FrancescaBennett said. My S - current college sophomore - talked to his HS counselor and his teachers about recommendation letters in spring of his junior year. We aimed to get everything in by October first, hoping to have all loose ends tied up by November 1 - the deadline for some MT program applications and many university merit scholarships. Our plan was to have everything mostly done before the majority of his senior classmates realized there were deadlines approaching. The earlier you get everything in, the better for scheduling audition dates. Check out all the threads pinned to the top of this forum and look for ones from past years that talk about “what we did right” and “what we’d do differently”. It may be hours of reading, but the past experiences of many others are freely shared for the benefit of those who come after. You might also check out all the “Final Decision Background” threads from the past few years.
Agree with the earlier posts. Realize that everything will happen sooner for you that your non MT friends. You will feel “out of sync” with your friends, starting sooner, deciding later. But all MTs go through that (music in general does, my S experienced the same for trumpet performance this year).
Start checking out schools now. They don’t have to be your actual MT schools, but try to include some if possible. Try to figure out types of schools you like - large v. small, city v. rural, public v. private, etc. We went on a lot of college tours during spring break junior year.
Also, explain this to your parents and have them visit this site. What they go through will also be different than non-music parents experience. Help them to understand what you need, because you will need their help.
Fair warning- while you need to get a jump on things more quickly than your friends- you will also be waiting longer than your friends for the results.
Thank you all!! My top school I want to attend by the way is Coastal Carolina, any feelings on that?
You might want to check out the “Coastal Carolina” forum listed at the top of the MT Major page. There are probably several folks posting there who can answer your questions.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/coastal-carolina-university/
Have you done any summer programs? I think that is really helpful to have safeties. Know if you want a BFA or BA. Also don’t fall in love with a top and apply to lots of schools!
Don’t just apply to lots of schools (which you must do), but include safeties as well. These are schools you can get into without an audition. While many/most land in a BFA program, some do not, like my D. If you really want to study theatre but don’t get into a BFA program, a BA degree at a state school can be a good option. But there are other options as well. Also include financial safeties - schools you know you can afford. Even if you get into a BFA program if the cost is such that you and parents cannot pay for it you need another option. There are threads about both types of options. Not trying to discourage you, this is just a crazy process and you needs lots of different options.
In addition to everything that’s been posted already, by this time in my d’s junior year, we were choosing a coach (not that you have to use one, but I’m glad she did.) She then had all summer to polish her material and her dance skills so that her prescreens could be filmed in the early fall (she filmed in September because our self-imposed deadline for everything being done was October 1. Her last application and prescreen was sent out on October 22nd.)