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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Soph/Junior year - visit colleges
SAT or ACTs - Junior year or early senior year
ED (binding), EA, or priority - usually Nov 1 due date
RD - usually Jan 1 due date
Common App, Uni App, school apps are online (almost no paper involved)
Naviance to do the research on schools your DC maybe interested in and also track progress of applications
Fee - usually 40-70 per school or so

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I honestly wouldn't start looking at schools until Spring Break of junior year. We started a little earlier than that, and it made the process feel like it lasted forever.

Some other thoughts:
Test Prep - prior to SAT and/or ACT

PSAT - Early Junior year, but some private schools offer a practice PSAT in Sophomore year. This was helpful to my son - his soph PSAT scores were high, so his college counselor suggested doing test prep in summer before junior year. He then scored as a National Merit Semifinalist when taking PSAT for real in October of Junior year, and took the SAT in November. He scored high enough to be finished with the SAT I by the middle of junior year.

SAT II - Needed for more selective schools. Good to take at end of Junior year, in conjunction with studying for AP exam in the same subject.

Writing Essays - Summer before senior year. With the Common App, your kid won't have to write too many different essays. If you can get him/her to work on it over the summer before Senior year, it puts you way ahead of the deadline game and makes Senior year a little more enjoyable and less frantic.

Decision Time - April. Most schools inform kids of decisions by mid to late-March (at the latest) and give you until May 1 to make up your mind. So set aside time for your child to revisit, stay on dorm, attend class, etc. Looking at schools side-by-side after you've been accepted might yield a very different view from what you saw more than a year earlier while visiting during Spring Break of your Junior year. [/quote]

I disagree that spring junior year is when to start visiting colleges. Sophomore year gives your child time to really see if small schools/large schools rural city etc is the way they want to go. With so many schools around here and many within a 4 hour drive, it really doesn't take a lot to visit a couple of schools and get a real feel for them. Summer is not a good time to visit schools. You really don't see what the school atmosphere is all about. It is just a bunch of buildings. Visiting Sophomore year also lets your child have some insight as to what schools will be looking for as far as admissions.

As far as essay's, my DC had over 30 to write between the Common App and the supplemental essays each school required. The more difficult to get into the school, the more essays there will be. DC applied to 10 schools. Each had 3 supplemental essays.

If your child takes any AP's, take the SAT II in that subject that year. It is really hard to go back and remember information from freshman or sophomore year. If your child takes AP American history, freshman or sophomore year, take the SAT II that Spring.

Deadlines will be pretty varied. The deadlines that DC had were Nov 1, (Early Action) Nov. 30, California state schools. Jan 1, Feb 1 and Feb 15.

Be really organized and start sending scores and asking for recommendation forms early. Teachers and counselors get overwhelmed and it is relaly hard to pull off an application in a few days.

Good Luck!

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