AtomicMind 12th Graders: July Highlights

Approaching the Final Year of High School

The summer before senior year is crucial for preparing college applications. Many students use this time to visit colleges, finalize their list of potential schools, and start working on application essays and other required materials. This is also a good time to take or retake standardized tests like the SAT or ACT to improve your scores before the busyness of senior year starts. Volunteering and participating in extracurricular activities that can strengthen your college applications is also a wonderful way to spend your time off.

Overall, the summer before senior year is a time to strategically prepare for your future while also enjoying your last bit of relative freedom before the demands of senior year and beyond.

Here are some things that rising seniors should be working on over the summer:

1. Drafting the personal statement: If they haven’t already, students should begin drafting their Common Application Personal Statement. As senior year ramps up, with courses and extracurricular commitments, students will have less time to dedicate to their application. Getting an early start on admissions writing is crucial to set students up for success.
2. Create admissions accounts: Students should set up their Common Application, Coalition, and/or UCAS accounts. Not every college application is available though the Common App. The University of California colleges, Georgetown, and MIT all have proprietary applications that require setting up separate application portals.
3. Work on school list: Students should begin to finalize their college list by narrowing down which schools they are most interested and are the best fits academically. Be sure to include a variety of target, reach, and safety schools on the list.
   Supplemental research and drafting: Students should begin familiarizing themselves with the supplemental questions for each of their top schools. Students should begin responding to the prompts for their Early Action (EA) and Early Decision (ED) schools.
4. Complete school work: Check in with your school about any required or recommended summer reading/assignments. Be sure to start this work earlier rather than later!
5. Take a deep breath: Amidst the chaos of upcoming applications, students should take time to rest and prepare for
   the school year ahead.

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Don't let the stress of the upcoming college application season ruin your summer! The experts at AtomicMind guide you through every step of the process. Acceptance to your dream school is just a click away!

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