5 Things to Do This Summer As A Rising Senior

Level 1 - Baby Steps

Welcome! With the summertime upon us, many parents and students are trying to find ways to make the most of their summer.

The first thing to remember is that you should take some time in the summer to rest and recharge from the academic year. The science shows that students who take rest in their summers tend to perform better. It is similar to exercising a specific muscle - you can keep working it out, but you will receive diminishing returns without changing things up.

That is not permission to just take the summer off though.

To help with the summer, we have put together 5 things that rising seniors can do to maximize their chances of success in the coming academic year and best prepare for college.

Narrow Down Your College Choices

Although there is no firm number of colleges you should apply to, this is an opportunity to narrow your list down.

Your college applications will largely rely on what you have accomplished through the end of your junior year. You can use your information to begin to really understand how your academic profile stacks against the colleges that are on your list and see which are contenders and which are not.

Remember, a general rule of thumb are 2-3 safeties, 3 target schools, 2-3 reach schools. Narrow down to that and you will position yourself well for application season in your senior year.

Organize Your College Application Requirements

Once you narrow down the list of colleges, take the time to organize the application requirements for each school.

This can be as simple as making a spreadsheet that shows the colleges as rows and requirements as columns, with due dates associated with them.

You want to make sure that you have the requirements as detailed as possible, and manage your actions from it.

College needs 3 letters of recommendation? Now you have it tracked.

If you know all of the requirements, you will save yourself time and headaches. Every year, there are students that apply to colleges and get caught in a timeline crunch because they were unaware that they needed to complete specific requirements.

Visit Colleges

Find the opportunity to visit some of the potential colleges that you have. Obviously, a great opportunity to do this is with a summer program, but at this point, that is too late.

Now is a great opportunity to visit a colleges. First, you can use it as an opportunity to narrow some of your college choices. But this is also an opportunity to express interest in the college and build a relationship with the admissions officers.

Remember, for some colleges, they do consider whether you have actually demonstrated interest in the college and a college visit is a great way to show that interest.

Research Scholarships

In addition to researching colleges, this is a great time to start looking at scholarships.

Some scholarships are school specific, but there are several scholarships that are university agnostic (e.g., the Coca-Cola scholarship).

Because of the volume of applicants, many of these scholarships take considerable time to narrow down finalists and eventual winners. Therefore, the applications can be surprisingly early.

If you wait to start your scholarship search until the fall, you will miss some of the deadlines and not be available to win them. That can be significant.

No one wants to lose money.

Make Standardized Testing Adjustments

In a standardized-testing optional environment, this may seem out of place.

It is not.

The summer before your senior year is your last chance to be able to study and prepare for the SAT without any other distractions.

If you feel you can raise your SAT/ACT scores significantly and put yourself into a different academic profile competitively, this is the chance to do it.

A significant improvement in your scores can be the difference in shifting your reach schools into a target school.