<p>S will be a senior this fall and I'm trying to get in the frame of mind as to things he will need to do and any ways to make his (and my :) ) life easier this fall when applying to colleges because his time will be at a premium with soccer, band and homecoming-student council committments. </p>
<p>We have a D in college already, but she limited the places she wanted to visit and apply to and had more time to devote to getting apps, references etc. ready in the fall.</p>
<p>Help me (and likely others) plan/think ahead to what we can do this summer.</p>
<p>Visits are obvious. :)</p>
<p>Common Application? We didn't need to use this w/D - not sure about son. Can this be done in the summer?</p>
<p>References/recommendations - teachers are harder to reach in the summer, but yep, could have him get one or two non-teacher related references.</p>
<p>Activities/Accomplishments list - he actually took senior comp as a junior and this was one of the tasks he needed to complete so that is fairly up to date.</p>
<p>Essay - our past experience was that specific colleges had specific essay topics - does the common app have one? Unsure of this - I have read that many kids get their "essays" ready summer before senior year, but how do you know what to prepare???? </p>
<p>The Common app is usually available about July 1st. That would be an excellent place to start. You can print out a copy of last years to look at so he has an idea of what’s in store and what information he needs to accumulate. Many schools also require extra “supplemental” forms and essays. Congrats to you for encouraging him to get started early! Good luck!</p>
<p>Definitely get the common application essay written (at least a draft). If the links are up for the individual schools start collecting their essay topics as well. The essay(s) is by far the thing that will take up the most time. </p>
<p>At our school teachers have email accounts and you might be able to get in touch with the teachers and get them working on references. If they can’t be reached over the summer then I would definitely do these very early in the school year. The longer the teachers have to work on references the better. As an FYI, we didn’t use any non-teacher references and in many cases there would not have been a way to submit them (in some cases colleges were extremely explicit as to which teachers they wanted references from).</p>
<p>If you don’t have a transcript yet from junior year, I’d get one. It’ll help you fill out the common app. You can contact teachers early in the fall. Most will be so impressed that you’re early! Agree to wait on the non-teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>Get an activities resume ready to help teachers and GC with their recs. This will also help you fill out the common app.</p>
<p>If you have schools that you really want to attend, think about the “Why us?” essays by doing a little more in depth research.</p>
<p>If you are going to do any testing in the fall, review this summer.</p>
<p>Our state flagship posts its application in August, at which point the essay prompts are available. Other universities make their apps available in the summer, as well. It is very helpful to have some essays completed before school starts in the fall. Our HS’s AP English class always starts with an assignment to write a college essay, so that’s even one paper out of the way!</p>
<p>Many schools have “or an essay on the topic of your choice” option, so you can get even more bang from a truly excellent essay.</p>
<p>I want him to get the not-teacher recommendations because my D actually had 2 or 3 different scholarships that she applied for that required recommendations that were not school related…</p>