Parents: What your rising senior should ideally be doing this summer to prepare for Admissions

Parents Forum
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Having gone through the college process twice, this is what I learned from the first child to make the second one’s life easier come the fall.

Rising Seniors:

You are probably thinking about the College App cycle…thinking this is something you do in the fall.
But in the fall you will be taking the toughest courses of your academic career and usually having leadership activities in your ECs…if you do the steps below you will be so happy you have all the grunt work out of the way for college apps.

So this summer, do the following:

  1. Make a list of all your ECs, when you did them, about how many hours a week, and descriptions.
  2. You only get 10 slots for ECs on common app, so start categorizing them. Like you may want to categorize all music ECs together, or split them up somewhat.
  3. Make sure to mention what leadership you have in those ECs, even if not a formal position…and talk about what you did as a leader.
  4. Choose a Common App essay prompt
  5. Write a draft of your essay this summer. Give it to your GC/English teacher to review in the fall.
  6. If you haven’t already, choose who you want to ask to write recommendations for you. If your major is STEM, ask a Math and a science teacher.
  7. See what your HS Guidance office wants you to do for college apps…(look on their website)…Do they want you to complete a brag sheet or something else to help the GC?
  8. Visit some local colleges…like your State flagship, a smaller private school…see what you like and don’t like about them. Or take a trip and visit more schools.
  9. Come up with a list of what you want in a college…major, location, urban/rural, size, etc etc
  10. Based on that, use Naviance, Supermatch (here on CC), Fiske Guide, etc to come up with a list of colleges
  11. Find out from your parents how much they can spend on college each year
  12. Run the Net Price Calculator on those colleges to see if they are affordable
  13. If not, look at colleges that give automatic scholarships and see if they are good for you http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html#latest
  14. Try to visit some of those colleges over the summer if possible if you haven’t already
  15. Do you like your SAT/ACT scores? If not, study Khan Academy and take it again in the fall.
  16. DO NOT APPLY TO A SCHOOL YOU WOULDN’T ATTEND. Also known as “Love thy Safety”. Pick your Safety first. I don’t know how many stories I read about people who didn’t get into an of their reaches and what they thought were matches and are only accepted to the safety and have a fit…find one that you like.

Yes this seems like a lot of work…but imagine doing it when you have classes and ECs too!

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11, #12, #13, #9 (emphasis on academic interests) should be #1, #2, #3, #4.

“Pick a safety that you like first” in #16 should be higher up in the list.

Perhaps the tasks should be split into two lists:

A. College search and selection: #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #16.
B. Application preparation (some of which may vary, depending on colleges of interest – e.g. The Common Application based stuff only applies to colleges that use The Common Application): #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #15.

Note that much of list A and list B can be done concurrently, but some tasks in list B depend on which colleges are found to be of interest from list A tasks.

Another task: ask your parents to look at the FAFSA and (if applicable for colleges of interest) CSS Profile. If they are divorced, and any college of interest requires both parents’ finances, find out if both will be cooperative.

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It would be nice to do this all in the summer but for anxious parents or parents with procrastinators much can be done in the fall including taking the act one more time…but sign up for that this summer.

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Thank you @bopper !!! It was very nice of you to post such a comprehensive list. I’m sure readers can adjust as they need, but your list gives them a heck of a start :slight_smile:

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YES TO THESE:

  1. Make a list of all your ECs, when you did them, about how many hours a week, and descriptions.
  2. You only get 10 slots for ECs on common app, so start categorizing them. Like you may want to categorize all music ECs together, or split them up somewhat.
  3. Make sure to mention what leadership you have in those ECs, even if not a formal position…and talk about what you did as a leader.
  4. Choose a Common App essay prompt
  5. Write a draft of your essay this summer. Give it to your GC/English teacher to review in the fall.

OUR SCHOOL REQUIRES THESE TO BE DONE JUNIOR YEAR:

  1. If you haven’t already, choose who you want to ask to write recommendations for you. If your major is STEM, ask a Math and a science teacher.
  2. See what your HS Guidance office wants you to do for college apps…(look on their website)…Do they want you to complete a brag sheet or something else to help the GC?

IDEALLY THESE SHOULD BE DONE JUNIOR YEAR ( I would NEVER recommend waiting for ANY til they were rising senior, 9-13 should happen early junior year) :

  1. Visit some local colleges…like your State flagship, a smaller private school…see what you like and don’t like about them. Or take a trip and visit more schools.
  2. Come up with a list of what you want in a college…major, location, urban/rural, size, etc etc
  3. Based on that, use Naviance, Supermatch (here on CC), Fiske Guide, etc to come up with a list of colleges
  4. Find out from your parents how much they can spend on college each year
  5. Run the Net Price Calculator on those colleges to see if they are affordable
  6. If not, look at colleges that give automatic scholarships and see if they are good for you http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html#latest
  7. Try to visit some of those colleges over the summer if possible if you haven’t already
  8. Do you like your SAT/ACT scores? If not, study Khan Academy and take it again in the fall.

AGREE WITH THIS:

  1. DO NOT APPLY TO A SCHOOL YOU WOULDN’T ATTEND. Also known as “Love thy Safety”. Pick your Safety first. I don’t know how many stories I read about people who didn’t get into an of their reaches and what they thought were matches and are only accepted to the safety and have a fit…find one that
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  1. Apply to colleges, send SAT/ACT scores, order transcripts
  2. Get FSA ID
  3. If you recently turned 18, register for selective service
  4. request LOR from teachers if not requested at end of junior year
  5. File FAFSA in October
  6. Don't slack off in senior year
  7. Apply for local scholarships in winter/early spring
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I agree that those things should have been done Junior year, but if you haven’t done them yet, do them this summer!

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Good list, @bopper. In addition to the list, we did the two following:

  1. Although LOR’s was mentioned, it’s a good idea to make a “packet” per teacher. In the packet should include: your cover letter explaining what your objectives are and which colleges (and their deadlines, including your ED or EA choice) you’re applying to; and your resume, the brag sheet.

  2. Work on the Arts Supplement. If it’s music related, secure the accompanist, the venue, the repertoire, video and audio gear, etc. These are all time-consuming, so getting it out the way in the summer would set you up very nicely for the busy and stressful fall.

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Neither of my kids did most of these things. They both worked summer before senior year and took a break from worrying about college.

What they did do:

Take SAT and subject tests junior year.
Went on a couple of low key college visits to schools while they were in session during February and April breaks junior year.
Had a couple of conferences organized by their high school. Naviance spit out some suggested colleges based on scores and grades. The high school told them what their deadlines were.
The high school asked parents for a brag sheet and met with them and student in the late spring.
Younger son lined up teachers for college recommendations junior year, older one did not.

We did nothing over the summer except print out a copy of the Common Application for our kids to mull over. I don’t know if they did.

Older son got into Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, RPI and WPI.
Younger son got into U of Chicago, Tufts, Vassar and American.

You don’t have to make yourself crazy.

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I agree with mathmom. (Our small high school did not have Naviance, nor did it have an effective GC.) Also, I think it is really important to avoid making college applications the focus of life, at any point in time. Keep it low key.

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The list is really helpful and comprehensive, but I wouldn’t make the summer entirely devoted to college prep, it will add to the stress. As others have said you can spread out a lot of the stuff over junior year and summer between tenth and eleventh grade. Also the summer is ending in a 3 weeks at least in CA, as some schools start from second week of August on. We also visited during spring and mid-winter break so we could see how the colleges were while in session. Summer visits are fine if you can’t do that, just know the weather may not be always that way :-).

I think a couple of weeks with non-college stuff in the summer before senior would be really good - job, volunteer, vacation (gasp!).

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Agree…NONE of this needs to be done in the summer before senior year… And @mommdc post upstream…none of that can be done in the summer (except for the few colleges that open applications in the summer…most don’t).

Yes…but for any new parents reading…it’s easier to start a word doc when your kid is a ninth grader and then just add to it each year. Way easier than trying to remember the hours and dates a few years later.

yes, but really…you don’t have to do this until you are completing the common app.

this can be done on the line for,the EC…e.g. Orchestra first chair violin.

Again…from our experience. We had our kids start a word doc where they jotted down ideas at the start of 11th grade. Then they at least had something to look at when deciding on their own essays. Some schools actually do essay writing in English class at the start of the school year.

In our experience…the teachers really appreciated getting these requests at the end of the 11th grade year…but yes…if you haven’t done so…do it ASAP at the start of school…and make sure the folks have ALL of the info they need!

Do this sheet. Most school counselors have NO way of knowing all the things you have done…and especially things you have done outside of,school. The list in number 1 will be very helpful.

Yes…visit if you can…but if you can’t…plan to visit your top choices after you get accepted. Not all applicants have the time or the resources to make college visits.

This might be THE most important thing a student does…that and find out any financial considerations the family has.

Maybe the supermatch here will be up and running!!??

VERY important…but understand the limitations of the NPCs.

But do check check,the college websites as polices do change.

But again…don’t feel badly if visits are not possible.

Or do practice tests.

This!! But find two safeties. It’s nice to have choices.

I am going to add a number 17.

Look for all the DEADLINES you need to meet. This would be for your HS, for admissions applications, for financial aid…everything. Do NOT miss the deadlines…not even by a day. In fact…plan to submit a bit early as you never know when the computer systems won’t be up and running.

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This is all an individual case situation. In our case, as noted earlier, identifying and preparing a packet for LORs during summer was very helpful without any stress or even taking anything from the summer fun and much needed rejuvenation. Working on the Arts Supplement in advance during summer in particular was very helpful, again, without adding any stress or taking anything away from the summer fun. In fact, it added to the fun as my son loves making music and I for making the video.

Things that we did in advance without taking anything away from the summer ended up being tremendously helpful as the fall turned out extremely hectic for my son. If you’re a serious musician with private lessons an hour drive away with the youth symphony weekly rehearsals another hour drive away, the concerts, public recitals, auditions, competitions, guest artists appearances, festivals, ad infinitum, all at least an hour or more drive away – and these are just music-related – things went crazy very quickly when you add everything else.

It’s a good advice not to stress over college application during summer, but it’s also wise to take care of non-stressful things in advance in order to take away from upcoming stress during the first semester of the senior year. It’s each individual that needs to determine this balancing act.

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@bopper You should preface that post with a “If trying to get into a competitive college!”

Ours is simple one of two either state flagship or other public (only two she likes so far anyway). I want her to stay home and commute lol I’m losing that battle.

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Here’s an alternate opinion on just how much to do the summer proceeding senior year. Our son wanted to get everything out of the way in summer, so that’s just what he did. Essays, applications, choosing teachers for LORs and making packages for them. Everything. For him, this was a way to reduce stress - get it all out of the way, enjoy senior year, and let decisions arrive when they will.

It worked out great, with pleanty time for a 2 week family vacation.

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Some other things that may apply to your child:

-If URM/First Generation search to see if there is a fly-in program for schools that interest you. A number open their applications now. Some schools will consider anyone not just URM/First Generation especially other Diversity niches.

-If your child is planning to apply to highly selective schools and scholarships see if the essay/short answer topics are available now and start writing those essays. My D finished 75%+ of hers during August last year for the 15 schools she applied.

-If planning to take the ACT/SAT one more time start a study plan leading up to the test.

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@mathmom @compmom

I know you mean well with your advice to calm down and relax, but it can be very challenging for many students and parents for various reasons, and many will find themselves (or already are) in a very stressful situation if they aren’t proactive and don’t start planning and organizing well ahead of the application deadlines. All of the posts that have been appearing lately on CC (which I’m sure inspired Bopper to make this list) are posted by students and parents unclear on the process with varying levels of apprehension, unmotivation, disorganization, lack of available information, etc. It has been pointed out that many things on the list should have been done during the junior year, but I’m sure their are many families who are behind the curve and need to catch up - so the list will be extremely helpful to those folks.

I also know that there have been several recent posts by students who are feeling extremely anxious and depressed about starting college so I know that is a reason for your advice. That is definitely something that a parent should be very mindful of. But he fact of the matter is that college is “the focus of life” for almost 18 months straight these days, and I think that is ridiculous, but this is what our kids are dealing with now. Many of us don’t have highly motivated, well organized, extremely intelligent children that can wait until the last minute to deal with all of these tasks. So all we can do is try our best to guide them through the process in the least stressful manner and be observant of their moods of along the way.

Re the Naviance thing - my daughter’s private college prep high school had Naviance, but the school never entered their student’s grades or test scores (and I never found a way to do that) so we couldn’t use it to select appropriate colleges. I never could find the scatter chart everyone on CC talks about. The guidance counselors were not incompetent, but not extremely helpful either - when we asked their opinion, we were given the names of two directional or lower ranked state schools. We decided to put together our own list so we had to do our own research (which took a tremendous amount of time as we were looking for merit aid) and track all the deadlines ourselves. And our daughter ended up getting accepted by and will be attending a top 75 university - which she just applied to on a whim because they sent her an email and the school seemed like a good fit. She was also accepted by a top 50 LAC and our state flagship. So if we had taken the counselor’s advice, she wouldn’t have had those opportunities and we would have ended up paying more for the schools that were suggested for her. I know for a fact that our younger daughter’s public school guidance office will be virtually useless and we will be on our own again.

So, in conclusion, I think @bopper 's list is a very good one and will be very helpful to students and parents. I wish I would have known about Supermatch last year. Yes, many of these items don’t have to be completed this summer (maybe the title of the thread should have been “Parents: A List of Items your Rising Senior Should Keep in Mind for the Fall Admissions Process”.) But they will be have to completed eventually and having them all compiled in a list is very helpful. And @thumper1, my daughter applied to 3 or 4 schools in July/August. Many of the less selective schools have rolling admissions or early application dates and also very easy applications - it only took about 10 minutes to complete the online (not Common App) applications. Some kids might want to take that route, avoid the Common App entirely, and have their admission decision in early fall.

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My kids are older now (late 20’s) and my attitudes are old-fashioned. Everything has changed for kids, very rapidly. Early academics, testing at a young age, all the way up to applying to so many schools, and pressure for everyone to go to college. I think that stress and anxiety is unavoidable, because a big transition is coming up, but I think every effort should be made to keep life normal. As I am sure everyone agrees. Maybe that involves applying to fewer schools, doing less test prep, not stressing about essays (which don’t count that much anymore anyway) and living life in the present as much as possible. Even when you do those things, it is still pretty stressful.

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I would have to add: pare down your list, and create it based on who and what you are now. It is highly unlikely that you will alter your application profile significantly enough in the fall of senior year to make colleges that were previously out of reach plausible. You can drop a super-safety if you have a surge in scores, but - with all the pressures and demands of senior year - you will not suddenly go from J.V. to a highly-recruited athletic superstar, or see a triple-digit increase in SAT scores. Nobody should be counting on chimerical overnight miracles when deciding where to apply. If Harvard and Stanford are not possible with your current credentials, they will not be any more so come November. The competitive candidates are already competitive, and are doing something other than prepping for the next round of tests or scrambling to find an extracurricular activity to put down on the Common App.