Recommended Junior Year Timeline
June - September
- If you haven't taken an interest inventory through your school, I suggest you visit
http://www.college.gov and use it to get information on careers by scrolling down and clicking "Explore Careers". This will help you find careers that relate to different areas of interest. This site also has a lot of financial aid information or you can go directly to http://www.careeronestop.org.
- Once you get some career ideas, you can go to http://www.bls.gov. Scroll down the "Publications" tab to "Career Guides" and click onto the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Another good site to use to investigate careers, especially in the math and science areas, is www.careercornerstone.org.
- Go to collegeboard.org and do a college match which will give you an idea of which specific colleges/programs you may want to consider.
-Download a college visit checklist to use when you visit colleges. A good one is available at bigfuture.collegeboard.org.
October - November
- Take the PSAT.
- Investigate summer programs open to juniors such as the Prudential Prestigious Awards. Recipients receive scholarship money and attend a week long conference in Washington, D.C. in the early spring. More info can be found at spirit.prudential.com.
- Zinch.com also has a scholarship finder.
- Notify your counselor that you are interested in summer programs such as Governor's School - www.nj.gov/govschool and New Jersey Boys State/New Jersey Girls State www.boysandgirlsstate.org.
December
- You will receive your PSAT results and should use them to continue with your SAT prep. I say "continue" because your schoolwork, study and even general reading is all "SAT prep". Use them to see where your strengths and weaknesses are. There are many SAT prep books you can use and even online test prep at sites like www.grockit.com and unigo.com.
January - June
- Schedule your SAT in the spring along with Subject Tests, if necessary.
- Continue investigating/visiting colleges and programs and applying to summer programs of interest. Virtual tours can be found on many college websites and also at www.campustour.com.
- Go to www.neighborhoodscout.com to check out the safety of the areas in which your schools of interest are located.
- Also go to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education website, theFIRE.org, to see your chosen schools' current policies "restricting individual rights, as well as that campus' advertised commitments to freedom of expression."
- Download a copy of the Common Application at www.commonapp.org. Even if your colleges of interest don't use or require it (over 400 do!), it will give you a good idea of what information will be included on most college applications. You can begin the activity sheet portion now, if you haven't begun one already. You can also see what the general application essay topics look like. If you begin one now, you can most likely edit it to use senior year. Go to www.englishclub.com to get some great tips on writing the college application essay.
There are numerous college ratings lists and guides. A recent one I particularly like can be found in the August 12, 2013 edition of Forbes magazine. They take the Top 300 Colleges, "rankings compiled exclusively for Forbes by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity" and give them grades based on their fiscal soundness. They created the Forbes College Financial Grades and analyzed the balance sheets and operational strength of more than 900 four-year, private, not for profit schools with more than 500 students. Public schools are included in the rankings but not graded. "Combining Forbes' Top College rating with its new Financial Grades can help you home in on not just the best schools for the buck but also those that are likely to be around for many years to come."
"Lucie Laponsky, former V.P. of finance at Baltimore's Goucher College and a higher-ed financial consultant, cautions against ignoring the financial health of the colleges you choose: 'Visible signs of financial stress can include fewer classes offered less frequently, more classes taught by adjunct professors, less money for clubs and cutbacks in the upkeep of campus facilities.'"
The next post will appear on October 23 and will include a discussion of a recently published book,
300 Best Jobs Without a Four Year Degree in addition to a summary of a July Daily Caller post, "As College Costs Increase, Alternatives Arise". I will also comment on another article about alternatives to college entitled, "Thinking Outside the Education Box".
