College Admissions Timeline

LAHS Guidance Office

College Admissions Timeline

Careful planning and research for college selection takes time and preparation. The College Admissions Timeline is a suggestion for when to apply, meet and finalize the important items for college applications and admissions.

IF YOU WISH TO SEE YOUR GUIDANCE COUNSELOR, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT THROUGH THE GUIDANCE SECRETARY. WHERE POSSIBLE, USE YOUR STUDY HALLS FOR THESE APPOINTMENTS.

Please choose one of the following:

Junior Year

Senior Year

Junior Year

September	October	November	December	January
February	March	April	May	June

SEPTEMBER:

Sign up for the PSAT’s in the Guidance Office by paying your testing fee (usually around $10.00) to the secretary in the Guidance Office. There is a very strict deadline for paying this fee. You will have about two weeks to get your money into the Guidance Office. If you miss the deadline, you’re out of luck since the PSAT’s are ever only offered once in the fall of your junior year.

Explore different kinds of higher education – check in the Guidance Office for these resources: current college guides (such as Peterson’s Guide to Four Year Colleges Handbook); look at the various college and other post-secondary catalogs available in the Guidance Office – you can even borrow them for a few days – just sign them out on the clipboard available; if you hear over the P.A. that an admissions representative from a certain school will be available in the Guidance Office at a certain time, be sure to sign up in the Guidance Office if you’re interested in that school.
Choices Career Exploration. You will, in all likelihood, be (re-) introduced to the program during your English 11 class. Choices contains a treasury of information about post-secondary options as well as providing an interest inventory which can help you refine your career goals.

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OCTOBER:

Take the PSAT’s (in early October, lasting about 2.5 hours). You must register to take the PSAT’s no later than late September. Watch for announcements on LPTV and check the LAHS web for the deadline. Top PSAT scores qualify for the National Merit Scholarship consideration which is announced the following Fall.

Write (or go on-line) for college view books, brochures and other program information.

Attend meetings with college representatives in the Guidance Office

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NOVEMBER:

Continue investigating various post-secondary institutions.

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DECEMBER AND JANUARY

When you receive your PSAT results in early December:

Go over your results carefully to see what your areas of weakness are. Look for patterns in these areas. Also, remember that you should multiply your PSAT Verbal and Math scores by 10 to get an approximation of your potential SAT scores.
Realize that almost everybody is unhappy with his/her PSAT scores – but that’s a healthy sign !!! Your results should motivate you to want to do something about raising your SAT scores. But how?
Attend SAT prep classes that may be offered in our area, usually from around mid-October to mid-November. The Guidance Office may have information on any of these classes if they are, indeed, being offered.
Consider purchasing one of the many commercially available SAT prep books (many of which come with CD-ROM’s that can be used on many home computers). You should look for SAT prep programs that not only score your answers, but also help you pick out patterns in your wrong answers. Such SAT prep programs are available at many bookstores; Barnes & Noble’s in State College has an especially good selection of these products.
Make (and stick to) a schedule whereby you will spend several (at least three) sessions a week (of 30 minutes or so – or whatever works best for you) working on your SAT prep materials. In most cases, this will make a significant positive difference between your PSAT results and your SAT results later in the spring of your junior year and, again, in the fall of your senior year.
Check with your guidance counselor if you have any questions about your PSAT results.
Realize that your PSAT results are the first in a series of external "reality checks" – that is, the PSAT is a standardized test in which you can compare yourself to all other college-bound juniors nationally. You always have internal "reality checks" in the form of report grades. But now you are starting to deal with external reality checks such as those used by college admissions offices. Between your PSAT results in the fall and one or two sets of SAT results from the spring of your junior year, you should start to have a fairly clear idea of which type of college (e.g., highly competitive, moderately competitive, etc.) you should consider applying to. Talk to friends, teachers, and family members about different colleges and their entrance requirements – but, above all, you should talk to your guidance counselor about which colleges you are likely to get into as opposed to those into which your chances of admission are not as strong.

Continue investigating colleges and schools that interest you.

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FEBRUARY:

Begin application process for the service academies (e.g., West Point)

Register for the Aprils SAT's

MARCH:

Register for the May SAT’s.

APRIL and MAY:

Register for June SAT’s – Remember that the June SAT’s are not offered locally.

Attend the Regional College Fair in May

Look at college brochures and applications.

JUNE:

Take the SAT’s

Begin to narrow college choices (such as from a field of 12 down to 4 or 5)

Visit colleges over the summer

Log onto "The Princeton Review" - - tips for choosing a career, improving SAT scores, scholarship information and more.

Review the COLLEGE ADMISSIONS TIMELINE: SENIOR YEAR (further on in this site) to help get an understanding of the overall picture and timetable for college admissions, especially as it pertains to your senior year.

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