College Timeline

Grade Nine

• Make the most of your academic opportunities.
• Explore and get involved with activities, both in and out of school.
• Take the PSAT 9 at SAS in October.
• Parents: Attend Introduction to College program at SAS.

Sophomore Year

• Remain invested in your classes.
• Continue to explore extracurricular interests; become more committed to several activities.
• Take a practice PSAT in October.
• Begin perusing the SAS College Counseling website.
• Meet with an SAS college counselor about course selection.
• Choose summer activities that are fulfilling and engaging.
• If you think you may apply to schools in the US, purchase a book such as The Fiske Guide to Colleges to start familiarizing yourself with different kinds of schools.
• If possible, visit a few colleges in the summer, take tours, and attend information sessions to acquaint yourself with how colleges differ.

Junior Year

Fall

• Stay focused on academic pursuits.
• Take on larger roles, where possible, in your most significant extracurricular commitments.
• Meet with admissions representatives when they visit SAS in the fall.
• Take the PSATs at SAS in October.
• Parents and juniors: attend financial aid workshop at SAS.
• Consider test prep for SATs and/or ACTs in the winter or spring, and begin studying eight to ten weeks prior to the test date.
• Register for winter/spring SATs and/or ACTs.
• Parents: Attend Junior College Counseling Kickoff
• Continue college visits.
• Start to reflect on what you might want in a college (teaching style, access to professors, programs, location, size, culture).
• Use Cialfo to start researching schools.

Winter and Early Spring

• Complete Junior College Counseling Questionnaire.
• Set up and attend individual meeting with your SAS college counselor
• Parents: Complete College Counseling Parent Survey.
• Parents and juniors attend family meetings with SAS college counselors.
• Begin researching colleges and developing a college list.
• Visit college websites; request and gather information from colleges.
• Take first SAT/ACT.
• Plan summer activities and college visits, if appropriate.

Late Spring

• Discuss senior year courses with your college counselor if necessary.
• Select and have conversations with prospective teacher recommenders.
• Set up a Common Application (Common App) account.
• Take standardized tests.
• Set up summer visits and interviews, where available.
• Complete teacher recommendation survey(s).
• Attend essay writing workshop.

Senior Year

Late Summer and Fall

• Complete Counselor Recommendation survey in Cialfo
• Meet with your college counselor.
• Attend Common App and UCAS help sessions offered by SAS college counselors.
• Stay focused on academic and extracurricular pursuits.
• Finalize your college list (no more than 10 schools).
• Review colleges’ application requirements and deadlines. Make decisions about when to apply and whether to apply Early Decision.
• Begin working on applications.
• Share essays with your SAS college counselor for review.
• Meet with admissions representatives visiting SAS.
• Register for SAT or ACT if you plan to sit for a fall administration.
• Complete Application Notification Form (ANF) for Early Decision, Early Action, and Priority application schools.
• Send test scores officially to all colleges through College Board and/or the ACT
• Use Cialfo to track the status of the submission of college application materials.
• Research financial aid deadlines and requirements.

Winter

• Complete applications for schools with January and February deadlines.
• Write letters of interest for schools from which you were deferred, if necessary.
• Check your college application portals to make sure colleges have received all of your materials.
• Research and apply for US scholarships.

Spring

• Review financial aid offers.
• Meet with your SAS college counselor to discuss options.
• Deposit at ONE college by May 1 if you are going to the US.
• Write letters of interest to waitlist schools, if necessary.

NOTE TO PARENTS: SAS college counselors will also offer informal parent coffees on a range of college-related topics throughout each school year.