Senior Year

FALL

• Stay on track for your final year! Colleges do consider senior-year transcripts, and they can rescind offers to students who let their grades drop dramatically after applications are done, so keep being the hard-working student that you are!
• Meet with a college advisor to discuss your college options (including Early Action) and make a master list of important deadlines for college applications.
• Meet with your counselor to make sure that you are meeting all graduation requirements for your high school as well as course requirements for your college choices, especially for foreign languages, electives, math, and science.
• Complete the CSF application and submit it by the October deadline! Qualifying students are those who are carrying four or more subjects (not counting P.E. and repeated subjects) and who earn a minimum of ten CSF points, seven of which must be in academic subjects. Details and applications can be found here: Tamalpais HS CSF Information, or Redwood HS CSF Information. If you attend a different high school, please ask your counselor or one of our directors to help you locate your school’s CSF information.
• FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) applications open on October 1 of each year for the following school year. Applications are taken in the order that they are received, so the sooner you get this filled out, the better chance you have of receiving aid. Even if you don’t think you need the aid, fill out the forms. Some student aid comes in the form of scholarships that do not require repayment. Don’t leave free money for school on the table!
• Request recommendation letters from teachers (you will need at least 2). Each teacher may have a different request form, so make sure you ask about the process ahead of time. As a courtesy, give your teachers 3 weeks notice at a minimum and do not miss any deadlines that they set!
• Continue to work on and edit your college essays. Consider a one-on-one session at Sage with one of our writing specialists to help with the editing process.
• Make sure to take the SAT, ACT, or SAT Subject Tests one last time before January 1 to include your scores in your college apps!
• If you are applying Early Action, deadlines are usually in early fall, so make sure you’ve allowed yourself ample time to prepare your essays and recommendation letters. Be sure to schedule your interview with the college(s), if required.
• Request transcripts to be sent to colleges, and don’t forget to include a stamped envelope!
• If you are not ready to apply to a 4-year college, that is OK! What will you do? Take a gap year? Go to Community College? Make sure to explore your options and have a plan to make the most of your first year after high school.

WINTER

• By December, finish up all applications, and confirm that colleges have received test scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation.
• Most colleges require FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and CSS (College Scholarship Service) forms to be turned in by February, so if you haven’t already done them, now is the time.  Be sure to speak with a college advisor or your counselor if you are having difficulty with the applications, FAFSA forms can be confusing!
• Prepare for midterms! Sage offers final exam review classes in most subjects.

SPRING

• Complete the CSF application and submit it by the February deadline! Qualifying students are those who are carrying four or more subjects (not counting P.E. and repeated subjects) and who earn a minimum of ten CSF points, seven of which must be in academic subjects. Details and applications can be found here: Tamalpais HS CSF Information, or Redwood HS CSF Information. If you attend a different high school, please ask your counselor or one of our directors to help you locate your school’s CSF information.
• Keep up those grades! The college app process may be done, but you’ll still need to submit your senior-year transcript after acceptance letters go out!
• College decisions start to arrive in March and April. This can be a very stressful time, but you can get through it!
• If you find out that you are on a college’s waiting list, contact the admissions office at that school to let them know whether or not you are still interested. If interested, you can write a letter to the college’s admissions office informing them of any other information outside of academics that will strengthen your application. However, counting on a waitlisted school can be risky, so be sure to submit your acceptance notification and deposit to your second-choice school to make sure that you have a backup option.
• By May 1, submit your acceptance notification to the college of your choice. Congratulations, you’re in!
• Take AP exams in May/June. Although you may be burned out with finals approaching, you should take these last AP exams seriously! Some colleges allow AP credits to replace freshman/sophomore year requirements if you score a 4 or 5 on the AP exam. If you do well now, your freshman year in college will be that much easier! Learn more about these tests at collegeboard.org.
• By June, request final high school transcripts for the college that you are choosing to attend.
• Study for your finals! Sage offers final exam review classes in most subjects.

SUMMER

• Attend summer orientation programs offered by the college you will be attending. Keep up to date on housing and roommate assignments if you are staying in campus housing freshman year.
• If you are currently undeclared (or even if you already have a declared major!), it is a good idea to talk to your relatives and your friends’ relatives who have jobs that interest you. Try to get a sense of what they do, and what academic fields are relevant to that work so that choosing your freshman-year college courses will be easier.
• Relax, you made it! Enjoy your last summer before college starts!