You're six years out. Or seven. Or four.
Everything schools tell you about college, they tell you too late. This is the whole thing laid out early — from 6th grade at the bottom to college at the top.
Start at the beginningThis is what everything below is building toward.
Senior year still counts, all of it.
Write the essays over the summer, before school starts
Ask for recommendation letters early in the fall
Writing the essays in October instead. They're the only part of the application you fully control, and panic wastes that
Senior grades — offers can still be withdrawn
One last SAT or ACT retake in the fall, if you want it
Financial aid forms open in the fall
How to: 12th grade →Tests, hardest classes, and the teachers who write about you.
Pick the SAT or the ACT — not both
Get to know two teachers well enough that they could describe you
Taking more hard classes than you can actually do well in. A heroic schedule you drowned in helps nobody
Junior grades weigh more than any other year
The October PSAT is the one that qualifies for National Merit
SAT or ACT in spring, AP exams in May
How to: 11th grade →Get good at something instead of joining a fifth club.
Take a free practice SAT and ACT to see which one suits you
Look up what a college application actually contains
Worrying about a PSAT score that doesn't count, while skipping the practice tests that would actually tell you something
First real leadership in something you've already done a year
PSAT 10 in the spring, AP exams in May
How to: 10th grade →The first year colleges will actually see.
Pick one or two things you'd still want to be doing as a senior
Keep a running list of what you do — you'll forget it by senior year
Joining eight clubs and quitting seven. Four years of one thing is worth more than one year of four things
Every grade from here is part of your GPA
Some schools give the PSAT 8/9 — practice, and nobody else sees it
How to: 9th grade →Not much counts yet. Not nothing, either.
Take Algebra I if you can — it's what makes calculus reachable later
Read for fun constantly, which is the best long-run test prep there is
Picking high school classes without realizing it's a four-year decision. This is how people end up locked out of calculus without ever choosing that
Algebra I shows on your transcript. Nothing else from this year does
None that matter
How to: 8th grade →The whole job is collecting evidence about yourself.
Join clubs you're curious about, quit the ones you don't like
Try one thing that seems slightly too hard
Nothing here. Not thinking about college in 7th grade is the correct move
Nothing. That's the point — this year is free to experiment
None
How to: 7th grade →Almost nothing here matters. One thing does.
If you like math, find out whether your school has an accelerated track and how you get on it
Not realizing math placement is a decision at all. It's usually made on 5th and 6th grade scores, and it's what decides whether Algebra I in 8th grade is even available to you
Nothing goes anywhere near an application. But this one placement shapes the next six years of math
Whatever placement test your district uses, if it uses one
How to: 6th grade →Start here and scroll up
You're already somewhere on this line.