12th-Grade Checklist
Don't delay! Make sure your high school senior is ready for college with this checklist.
Fall
- Narrow the list of college choices. Collect all the applications your senior will need, and place them in a special folder. Schedule family visits to the schools; call ahead to schedule appointments with admissions and financial aid officers.
- With your teen, keep track of application deadlines in a planner or calendar. Early admissions deadlines may require applications by November 1.
- Make sure your child registers and prepares for the SAT or ACT. (Many college admissions offices focus on the best score when a student takes the test for the second time.) Some campuses also use these tests, as well as other assessments, to determine the initial courses students will take in college in English and mathematics.
- Make sure your child registers and prepares for the fall SAT or ACT. (Many college admissions offices focus on the best score when a student takes the test for a second time.)
- Have copies of your teen's college admissions forms and practice filling them out. Suggest ideas for an essay, if it's required, and begin having your teen ask people for recommendations to accompany college and scholarship applications.
- Stop by the school counselor's office for student financial aid forms. Talk to your child about your family's ability to help pay for college. Search for scholarships and financial aid information online.
- Make sure your senior completes the college applications. Proofread them yourself. Make sure the school counseling office is sending transcripts and test scores to the colleges your teen is applying to.
Winter
Spring
- Celebrate college acceptance letters and make plans for the freshman year. However, make sure your teen stays focused on grades and attendance in order to actually graduate from high school.
- Review financial aid offers. When your teen makes a final college choice, double-check deadlines for sending in the required deposit, housing application, or any other forms requested by the school. You'll probably have to make a college-choice decision by May 1. Let the other schools know that your child won't be attending.
- If your senior doesn't have a summer job yet, encourage him or her to look for one.
Summer
- Enjoy your teen's success as a high school graduate.
- Save money for the coming freshman year. Work out a budget to estimate expenses.
- Start planning and shopping if your high school graduate is moving into a dorm or an apartment.
- If your son or daughter is going to a residential campus then have them get acquainted with their soon-to-be college roommate and find out what the roommate is bringing to the dorm room.
- Participate in new student orientation with your college-bound son or daughter.
- Get acquainted with buildings and parking, so that the first day of class will be easier.
- And if you haven't started the college-bound process, start today - it's never too late to go to college.