Senior To-Do List.

Insights from a former director of admissions

My experience as a director of admissions & admissions officer:

So, you’re a high school senior. What do you need to do this year?

I work with clients at various stages in the college admissions process. Some are younger and have a longer runway; others have already started their senior year. If you’re a senior, here’s what you need to do immediately:

  1. If you don’t have a college list yet, you need to be in turbo-charge mode. It’s going to be a little overwhelming, but you can absolutely establish criteria important to you, compile a short list, and start working on your applications. Check out these specific videos to get started:

  1. Establish a specific college email address. If you haven’t done this yet, I imagine your personal email (or school email) address has become out of control. Maybe you’ve just stopped checking emails from colleges. This is a bad idea for several reasons. So just create a college email address that you commit to checking on a daily or every other day basis.

    • You might be thinking, “But I registered for the SAT or signed up for a mailing list with my personal/school email address.” That’s very common. Colleges have sophisticated systems to match you records, even if you use a different email address throughout the college admissions journey.

    • It’s generally not a great practice to use a school email address for college purposes. First, schools have anti-spam blockers that are often more restrictive than Gmail, Apple Mail, etc. This might prevent colleges from sending you important messages. Second, your school email will likely be discontinued when you graduate, and sometimes, you forget to update your enrollment record with a new email address — again, preventing you from receiving important messages such as waitlist updates.

  2. Register for college mailing lists - like, right now. A ton of colleges track demonstrated interest, and registering for more information is almost a given expectation since it’s so easy to do. Here’s an example of what you want to find on a college website.

  3. Start attending virtual visits, open houses, panels, and similar programs. Again, if you haven’t done this AND the college tracks this type of activity, it’s to your benefit to do a few things before applying. Here’s an example of what to search for on a college admissions site.

  4. If you have a little time in the fall to dedicate to physical visits, register for some information sessions and campus tours. Of course, if you have time and resources, book a trip to a college or two on your list. But even if you don’t have all of the time and money in the world, are there local colleges on your list or within a short drive that you could visit? Here’s an example of how to register for one of these visits.

  5. List out your deadlines and checklist of to-do items. Use Google Sheets, Excel, or just pen and paper to map out your college list and the various deadlines. If you want to learn more about Early Decision and Early Action, you can watch this video.

  6. Begin your personal essay draft. While the college application process requires a lot of you, the personal essay will likely take the longest (but don’t forget about the college supplements). You can find the latest round of essay prompts here or after you log into the Common Application.

  7. Ask for a meeting with your school counselor to discuss college options and process. Your counselor will be asked to submit your high school transcript and a secondary school report (which lists your GPA, class rank, curriculum, etc.), but it’s best to at least touch base with them if you haven’t already done so.

  8. Request your letters of recommendation from teachers and your school counselor. Maybe your teachers are used to writing these letters, or maybe most of your peers are attending 2-year institutions that don’t require letters. If they need a little help, feel free to share this teacher recommendation video with them.

  9. Begin looking into the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This usually opens in October of your senior year and will require you and your parents to submit income and other financial information to qualify for loans and possible grants.

  10. Once you feel like your Common Application is in a good place, ask a trusted adult to check it over and help edit it. It’s always best to have a second pair of eyes on your application before submitting to colleges. And if you want a college admissions professional (me) to help you, sign up for my Application Review service where I will go line by line through your application and provide advice, feedback, and edits.

Of course, there are other things to do, such as investigate merit scholarships at colleges, explore external scholarships at foundations and those offered by local community groups, and apply to any state need-based and merit-based aid programs, but this list above should get you started. And if you're applying Early Decision or Early Action in October/November, be sure to watch this checklist video BEFORE submitting your application: