In their junior year, University students:

• Attend biweekly, small-group sessions in the first semester with the director of college counseling.
• Invite parents to attend a group parent meeting with the director of college counseling in October.
• Take the PSAT in October.
• Attend visits by college admission officers at University High School.
• Take the SAT at least twice during the second semester.
• Take the ACT in June.
• Visit colleges during fall, spring and summer breaks and have interviews at colleges that offer them. When possible, juniors should attend classes.
• Attend individual meeting with the director of college counseling to refine the college list created during the sophomore year. This meeting is to ensure the student’s list includes colleges appropriate to the academic and personal record.
• Take SAT II subject tests
• Take AP exams in May.
• Establish a profile with FastWeb.com for scholarships.
• Begin a scholarship search.
• Attend the family meeting with their parents in May to refine the final college list and clarify the college search process.
• Update their student profile.
• Determine teachers from whom they would like a recommendation. Often, colleges request two recommendations. In asking a teacher to write a recommendation, the student should be sure the teacher knows him or her well and is not someone who just gave a good grade. If students ask their teachers to write recommendation letters before the end of the junior year, teachers may compose the letter during the summer break.
• Have recommending teachers sign the Teacher Recommendation Request Form and give the form to Dr. Fadely by May 31.
• Begin to work on college applications over the summer. The Common Application is typically available in early July ( www.commonapp.org).
• Write college essays over the summer to minimize the amount of work required during the school year, and finalize the essays in September during senior English classes.
• Attend career-planning workshop.
• Return to school in the fall with applications completed for any colleges that have rolling admissions (Indiana University, Purdue University, Ball State University, most state-supported schools such as the University of Michigan, University of Florida, etc.). The sooner rolling admissions colleges receive one’s application, the better the chances of admission. The college counseling office will mail any rolling admission applications in the fall with the student’s transcript, the school letter of recommendation and the school profile.