Attention Rising Seniors:

I know it's summer, but there are several things you can do before school starts to get your senior year off to a good start.  The following is a list of suggestions for the summer.

1.   If you have not already done so, visit the colleges/universities that you are considering.  Talk to an admissions counselor, make a list of your questions, ask them while on campus, and look at the pros and cons of the answers.

2.   Find a community service activity that you care about and spend a lot of hours involved in that activity.  If you have already done that (which is even better), continue the activities you have started.

3.   Put together your resume which should include any honors or awards you have received (including making the honor roll),  all of your community activities and service, your school affiliations (clubs, sports, band) and any leadership roles you have had in each of these.  Be specific in describing your activities because not everyone who reads your resume will understand abbreviations or what your accomplishments were.  If you will be applying for scholarships, you will use this resume over and over.

4.   Start thinking about whether you might have scholarships available to you through your parents' companies and unions, your church or employer, or local businesses.

5.   Commit yourself to staying in those challenging courses for which you registered.  Do the summer work if it is required.  A challenging course load does make a difference in college admissions and scholarships.

6.   Hopefully, most of you who are planning to go to a four year college have already taken the SAT/ACT at least once, but you will probably need to take it again.  It is good to get registered with collegeboard.com or actstudent.org as early as you can.

7.   Many colleges and universities post their applications at the end of the summer.  If your school of choice requires an essay, you could actually work on it before school starts.

      If you can get any of these done ahead of time, it might help make your senior year a little less stressful.  Have a great summer!

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