College Planning Summer To-Do List

Schools out for the summer!  What did you have planned?  Hanging out with friends, lounging in the sun, sleeping in?  Wrong!  Gone are the days that you can throw your backpack into the closet on the last day of school in June and not think about school again until September (okay, August when you start buying back to school clothes).  Turn off your mental Alice Cooper soundtrack of "School's Out."  If you are planning on someday moving out of your parents’ basement and going to college, you need to take advantage of summer break by getting things done.  Here’s what we tell our clients to work on if they are graduating in 2014:

 ·     Common Application – fill out your college applications

·      Essays – write your college entrance essays

·      Summer programs – register and participate in summer programs applicable to your areas of interest

·      College visits – take advantage of the chance to walk the campus and get a feel of where you might be living – can you see yourself there for four years?  

·      Conduct alumni interviews – what better way to research a school then to speak with those individuals who actually attended (and graduated) from it?

·      Thank you notes – keep in contact with colleges, alumni and coaches with whom you met over the summer.

·      Study for your SAT/ACT if you are re-taking it in the fall.

·      Set a goal for yourself to have your application completely done by September.

This is just one strategy in the college selection plan to make sure you are paying wholesale price for college instead of retail.