High School Juniors

FIRST SEMESTER

• Explore college possibilities on broad basis. Begin using CHOICES & Naviance, the computer college search program in the Post Graduate Center.
• Discuss your preliminary college choices with your counselor, the Post Graduate Center staff, and your parents.
• Take the PSAT/NMSQT in October of your junior year.
• Attend and participate in the Junior College Night Programs held in our school or area, and Fall college fairs in the Denver area.
• Obtain information on college costs and discuss family financial resources for college with your parents.
• Compute your family EFC, Estimated Family Contribution, on line to determine what the federal government/colleges expect your family to pay for your 1 st year of college.
• Attend the Financial Aid/Scholarship Workshops held in the LPS district and Metro-Denver area.
• Investigate scholarship possibilities, including using the scholarship search programs available on the computers in the Post Graduate Center and those free scholarship search programs on the Internet.

SECOND SEMESTER

• Continue exploration of colleges. If possible, narrow choices down to 8-12 colleges. Spend more time with the computer college search program, Naviance or Choices, located in the Post Graduate Center.
• Most colleges require an admission or placement test of all their entering freshmen. Consult the college bulletins for the tests, which are required for the colleges in which you are interested. Admission or placement tests may be taken during the junior and senior year. Juniors are encouraged to take their initial college admissions tests in the spring of their junior year. Information bulletins and registration forms for both the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT I), the SAT II Subject Tests, and the American College Test (ACT) are available in the post Graduate Center.
• Check to see if you must take the SATI and SATII for a selective college.
• Juniors and their parents are urged to attend the College Planning Night for Juniors Workshop in mid February, followed up with a student/parent conference with their individual counselor later in the year.
• Attend the Metro Denver College Fair in April/May.
• Actively begin compiling your scholarship possibilities list, including the local scholarships available in the Post Grad Center and all available scholarships (academic, merit, talent, leadership, departmental, and athletic) at each college in which you have an interest.
• Build a college selection list with colleges that fit these admissions selectivity criteria:
  • One or more “safety” colleges that you are definitely admissible to, according to guidebook statistics and your counselor’s advice.
  • Two to four “possible/probable admissibility” colleges that you have a reasonable chance of being admitted to.
  • One or two “reach” colleges that you may not have the prerequisite GPA or test scores for but that are your “dream” college choice(s) and that you hope recent academic improvement, excellent teacher recommendations, a strong college essay, athletic/talent/leadership abilities, and/or extenuating circumstances will help you in the admissions selection process.
• Meet with your counselor in April/May after your 1-2 appointments in the Post Grad Center in March/April.
• Visit colleges this spring and summer and continue refining your college choices throughout the summer as you continue your college investigation over summer vacation.
• Take both the ACT and SAT I as the junior school year ends. If applying to highly selective colleges, you will need to take the May SAT I, June SAT II and June ACT.
• Begin writing rough drafts of your college essays, generic scholarship essays, and your academic/activities/athletic resume this summer.
• Collect all out-of-state college applications in August.