September

• Make sure your course curriculum meets the goals of your four-year plan for high school graduation and college admission. Take AP, IB and Honors courses. Check with your high school/college-career on your progress and revise your plan as needed.

• Join academic programs and organizations that recognize high-achieving students. Joining organizations that require student members to earn excellent grades will look good on your college applications. See your high school/college-career counselor for instructions on membership.

• Focus your extracurricular interests on activities you are passionate about. Your activities should be those you are prepared to keep involved with throughout your high school career; ideally, activities should support your student theme. A high level of involvement and accomplishment in a few activities is more important than participating in numerous activities on a surface level.

• Take on leadership roles in some of your extracurricular activities. Leadership is one of the most valuable student qualifications sought by college admission officers.

• Register for the PLAN® assessment program test. The PLAN test does not have national testing dates, so see your counselor about test dates at your high school.

• Register for the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test® (PSAT/NMSQT). The PSAT/NMSQT is good practice for next year’s SAT Reasoning Test; test results will not be used for college admission. See your counselor to register.

• Visit with college representatives who travel to your high school. Remember to be professional in all interactions with college and university representatives.