StudentAdvisor Blog

Fall Checklist for High School Seniors

School has been back in session for several weeks now. For high school seniors, this year is will be exciting, hectic, and full of memories. By this time, high school seniors should be narrowing down what they will be doing next year and where they want to go to college.

Here is StudentAdvisor’s Fall Checklist for High School Seniors – print it off, hang it on your fridge, and reference it to keep you focused and on track!

• Continue to take a full load of college-prep courses.

• Make sure that you have the courses necessary to graduate in the spring.

• Keep your grades up!

• Continue to participate in your extracurricular and volunteer activities - and have fun with them!

• If you are a male student, you must register for selective service on your eighteenth birthday to be eligible for federal and state financial aid.

• Make a calendar showing all of your application deadlines for admission, financial aid, and scholarships.

• Check out StudentAdvisor.com’s Scholarship Secret Guide to learn more about available college funding.

• Ask colleges about scholarships for which you may qualify.

• Give your college recommendation forms to the teachers that you have chosen, along with self-addressed, stamped envelopes so your teachers can send them directly to the colleges.

• Give your school report forms to your high school’s guidance office at least 2 weeks before they are due. Fill in the top with your name and contact information, and verify with your guidance counselor the schools to which transcripts, test scores, and letters are to be sent.

• Register and take the ACT Assessment, SAT I, or SAT II Subject tests, as necessary.

• Make sure to request that your test scores are sent to the colleges of your choice.

• If you have the time, visit colleges while classes are in session.

• Remember that if you want to apply for a ROTC scholarship, applications are due December 1!

• Make photocopies of all of the applications that you send out to keep track of everything that you have submitted.

For more college checklists, read our Parents' Survival Guide.

Parents/Students - have advice to share about senior year of high school? Comment & share below!