Not just the colleges’ deadlines. High schools need time to provide transcripts and guidance counselor recommendations, and teachers also need time to prepare recommendations. They will have deadlines, and those deadlines will be earlier than the college’s deadline.
Also, be aware that some teachers, especially popular ones, set limits on the number of recommendations they will write. So it’s good to ask early – perhaps even as early as the end of junior year.
There are a lot of great suggestions here, but I really like the succinctness of post #8. @carachel2 has given a good starting point. If I were doing it all over again, I would make it a point not to visit a bunch of high reach schools right away. Once visited, you can’t unvisit them, and not surprisingly, students love those high reach schools for good reasons. It is more important to visit safety and match schools. (A high reach, IMO, is any school with an acceptance rate under 20%, no doubt others have differing opinions. This is just in a nutshell, a whole book could be written on this.) Anyway, rest assured, you have made a great first step by posting this question, and you have pleny of time. Don’t fret. Start with the basics and delve more deeply as your child firms up his list.
Should add, if you want to give your child some useful advice, and especially if your family will be needing merit aid, your child should know that the most important thing he can do to improve his chances of getting into his desired colleges is to get good grades, followed very closely by good test scores. Extra curriculars should not interfere with those two important factors. Keep those the focus and it will be enormously helpful.
I would make a spreadsheet and include info like:
Net Cost
Number of Undergraduates
Faculty Student Ratio
%of students that live on campus
How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
Urban/rural/suburban
Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
Transportation - how would you get home
AP/IB Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
Male/Female ratio
Greek life - what % of students are in greek life
Parking
Diversity
Safety
Sports
Jobs - what happens to seniors after they graduate
Internships - depending on your major, is it easy to get internships?
…and whatever makes sense for you
You might not care about, say, greek life. but if 50% of the kids are in greek life and you don’t want to be, that is something to know. Or you may want a big time sports scene or you might not want one. Grade them from 1-5 as they make sense to you.
Then look at each of them and see which makes sense for you
A tool to help is https://colleges.niche.com/compare/default.aspx?&tab=tab-rankings
Actually, there are two different concepts here.
A commuter school is one in which all or most of the students live at home and go home every night.
A school where students live on campus but most go home on the weekends is usually called a suitcase school.
In both cases, you probably don’t want these types of schools unless you are going to have the same lifestyle as the majority of the student body. Going to a school where people go home on the weekends is not a problem if you plan to go home on the weekends. But if you plan to stay on campus during the weekends, you may be bored and lonely.
Read the book Right College, Right Price to learn about different types of colleges and which may be a fit for you financially.
Run an EFC calculator (I prefer the college board one) and see how much need you demonstrate. Cry.
Keep on top of test dates and make sure your kid has the highest test scores they are capable of getting by fall of senior year.
If GPA and test scores are high, and income is upper middle class (the formulas say you’re full-pay but common sense says otherwise), start researching merit aid.
Keep on top of entrance requirements for colleges, does your child’s schedule have enough credits in math, English, history, etc?
Visit campuses within driving distance of home, just to test drive being on a large campus, being at a small college, being at a Catholic or other religious school, being at a business- or career-focused college, being at a “classic core curriculum” college, etc. (for whatever variety of schools are available reasonably close to home). See if your child has strong preferences for a particular type of school.
Write up a list of their extracurricular activities and awards and grab a copy of the transcript. Do any strengths/weaknesses/passions jump out? What things do they want to continue doing or studying in college? Put that on your college shopping list as well.
If child is thinking of being a student-athlete, register on NCAA and research how recruiting works for your sport of choice.
Read Crazy U for a lighthearted look at the whole process.
Start reading the following blogs. You can sign up to have them delivered to your email:
collegewise - wiselikeus.com
High School Counselor Week - hscounselorweek.com (This one only publishes during the school year, so you will get nothing over the summer.)
First of all- is she a REALLY smart student and a GREAT test taker?
IF she is, be SURE she studies over the next few months for the PSAT test, which is taken in the JR year .
Taking some SAT practice tests is probably all she needs to do to prepare.
A top score on that ONE test can mean tens of thousands of $$ in merit scholarship $$ at many non- Ivy colleges that want to attract tip top students.
She got a 1330 on her PSAT and has a 97 average.
what state are you from?
Remember that your kid knows much less about this process than you do. When my son was a high school sophomore, I asked him: “What kind of college are you interested in?” and I got an agonized response of “I don’t know. How can I know?”
Big eye opener. After that, we started visiting colleges and going to college fairs whenever we could. From there, he started to put together a picture of the kind of school he wanted to go to.
Regarding testing: I second the recommendation to start practice SAT/ACTs. She may have one that she likes or does significantly better at. Colleges take either and it’s good to know sooner rather than later if she has a particular strength. And take SAT subject tests as soon as she finishes the associated course…reduces her prep load significantly.
Just a FYI, vist schools while school is in session. It gives you a better lay of the land. Visiting a campus while school is our or visiting it when the weather is really bad can really give you a bad impression of the school.
The very first steps are to get a rough handle on the financial situation, and begin to discuss potential interests and schools with you daughter.
Begin using the NPCs and Naviance to understand what is feasible. Also be aware that while school choice is important for some majors, but not very important for others.
New York
Although sometimes you can’t do that if you visit over spring break, say. The school my daughter ended up with was on break and still had more energy (student walking around) than Cornell which was in session.
You need to make the topic of going to college much smaller to figure out where to start.
Does your child even want to go to college when they graduate HS?
–If they are not sure, then going to a CC or some other trade school or even taking a gap year is where you should be focused.
If they do want to go to college, then how far from home are they willing to be and how much money are you prepared to pay.
–The instate option will always be cheaper unless your student is so amazing they can get a full ride somewhere or very very good merit aid. So if your student is staying close to home, then your possible list of schools become automatically narrowed.
–If you student knows of their area of focus for a major, then the list of schools becomes smaller still. Ultimately, your student should focus on applying to 5-10 schools. 2-3 of those, are safety schools they know they will be accepted to based on GPA and SAT scores.
If you will have to pay the bulk of the college fees then you need to look into what financial aide you can qualify for. --There are calculators online where you type in your tax return info and get an idea of what you will be expected to pay out of your pocket a year and what you might get in FA.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1
What your student has to do if they want to go to college is to start studying.
–There are PSAT tests offered at the school. There are SAT prep books or classes to take. If they are able to take AP classes, take them but do not let them take so many they are overwhelmed.
Pull out a calendar and mark when the SAT tests are for the next year and the application date cut offs so you don’t miss them. You can open up an account Here: https://account.collegeboard.org/login/login?appid=319&DURL=https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat%202/2/2016
If they take AP classes, then mark when those tests are too. You cannot take an AP test and SAT in the same day.
Do it today. Use a new email address, create a new gmail account, that only college stuff will go to with a mature name your student can use for job applications and anything formal or grown up they will need for their future.
Good luck! It is a hell of ride and one I am very glad to have made with my son 
And you can ask anything, anything at all here on CC and someone will know and answer. Its a gold mine of information.
Lots of great advice already. One thing I didn’t see is the old cc saw of Love the Kid on the Couch. As you spend time on here, you can start to feel like yours is the only HS slacker who has yet to cure a disease and can’t possibly get into a “good” college. That’s nonsense, but be prepared to feel that way. Keep your anxieties on here – that’s what we’re for – and don’t impose them on your kid. It’ll all be good. Welcome!
A high stat student in New York could find in-state tuition at Cornell to be very appealing. Some SUNYs are very good too.
I would want her prepping for the SAT or ACT.
What subjects interest her?
I would add to post 33 that if your child is thinking of taking a gap year, you need to decide if s/he will apply to college this year or not. My son is thinking about a gap year so one thing we are checking on is whether or not an accepted student can defer and if any financial aid or scholarships will wait for them. I told him he could do a gap year but he has to defer. My other sons just didn’t apply and it was much harder to get them in because the HS was done with them and not easily providing assistance.
I’m also in NY. There are many good SUNY’s, some of which offer merit money and/or have honors programs. If you’re in the city, you can consider CUNY’s Macauley Honors program, free ride, including housing, stipend for study abroad. Actually, Macauley takes kids from everywhere.
I didn’t see the OP was from NY. Some of the CCs in NY also have arrangements with the schools in NY so that a student can start there for the first 2 years and they have a transfer agreement to colleges that are close by. Monroe community college has that with Univ of Roch and RIT.
I believe some may also have that with Cornel, Union College and RPI.