The College Search: Fall of Senior Year
It's GO TIME
The closer my son gets to his senior year of high school, the more worried I become that I might just spend the whole year dangerously close to bursting into tears.
This is an alarming prospect for a generally fairly emotionally stable midwesterner who isn’t afraid to just ignore a feeling until it goes away.
To be honest, my potential tears aren’t really due to the college search process (I recognize that I have some advantages in that department), but rather due to the bittersweet nature of watching my kid get ready to have a whole bunch of “lasts” before they start having a whole new bunch of “firsts” as they get ready to step out into the world as a newly minted (sort-of) adult.
His last soccer game is going to wreck me, I’m 100% confident.
(Quick note: I love Mary Louise Kelly’s book “It Goes So Fast” about her son’s last year of high school, so if you are looking for a memoir to hit you right in the feels, this one might do it.)
I share this all as a preface to say this: this is going to be a year of big feelings for both kids and parents, so be gentle with yourself as you navigate both the college search process and the letting go process as your kid moves closer to graduation.
I can’t really help it be less weird that your tiny infant baby is soon going to be done with high school, but I might have some suggestions about the college search part of it that might be useful.
(Please note that this post is longer than usual, because there is a lot to do this year, so I’m dividing this into fall and spring posts)
High School Academics: A Few More Steps to Go!
Students will want to make sure that they finish high school on a solid foot, including passing any classes that they indicated as “in progress” when they did their college applications. Not only does failing a class potentially jeopardize their ability to graduate, it could also put their college acceptances at risk too. It doesn’t happen a lot, but most colleges have an option to rescind an offer of admission if a review of the final high school transcript shows a failed class or dramatic drop in academic performance.
Note: Admissions offers can also be rescinded in cases of criminal or academic misconduct or school suspension, so make sure that senior prank doesn’t get out of hand!
Also, some students may consider taking a summer class (often at a local community college) before college starts in the fall. The vast majority of new grads don’t do this, but it can make sense as an option to consider in a couple of circumstances:
A student places into developmental math or English based on their college’s assessment process. Taking a class in the summer can help make sure they start their first year in college level classes and on track for their degree program’s usual sequence.
A student who is going into a math or science intensive program and who didn’t place into starting classes in the math sequence. These are students who place into college level (generally marked with a course number that’s 100 or above) but not into the higher level course (e.g. they placed into college algebra but not calculous and they are pre-engineering)
A student who has been conditionally admitted: Sometimes a college will admit a student but make that contingent on completing a specific class prior to enrollment. Again, this is rare but happens!
A student who is considering a study abroad program with a language requirement but isn’t on track to complete it if they wait until fall to start
Please note that the summer term is usually part of the previous year’s FAFSA so students wanting to use financial aid to pay for the class may have to submit the earlier year’s FAFSA for consideration. Talk to the college where they’ll be taking the class for more options. You should also confirm with the college the student will be attending in the fall that the credits will transfer and how they’ll be used.
College Search: Fall
There is a lot to do in the first few months of the senior year, so hopefully you’ve already done some of the prep work included in the junior year guide! I generally recommend trying to get all applications in before the winter break, though getting them in by November isn’t an unreasonable goal, depending on how many schools the student is applying to.
Here are some of the key tasks for August through December:
Create a resume or a highlight sheet to give to the teachers and/or counselors who’ll be writing letters of recommendation (if needed, remember many schools don’t require them any more). This sheet should include academic accomplishments, highlights from extracurricular activities, college or career goals, and any other talking points the student hopes that they’ll reference to strengthen their letter. Some teachers may have their own form or questionnaire they want students to complete, but this can still be a helpful exercise as it can help students think through what really sets them apart.
Speaking of letters of rec: ask ASAP! Some teachers will get A LOT of requests for letters of rec, so do them a favor by asking early and giving them plenty of time to get it done.
Create a Common App account if you haven’t already done so and the student plans to apply to any schools using the App.
Sign up for and take ACT/SAT if needed: Most students who plan to submit test scores will usually take the ACT or SAT during the spring of the junior year. Some students may want to test again to try to increase their score for admissions or scholarship consideration, so a test date in early fall is a good chance to do that. One note: Students should check to see what the test score policy at their top choices school is for students who’ve taken more than one test. Some schools will accept the best score, some will require the most recent score or want to see all the scores from all test dates, and some will do what is called “superscoring” where they take the best score from each section and combine it (so, say, the SAT math score from test #1 and the verbal score from test #2) so the students gets the highest score combo.
Decide if/where to send test scores: A lot of colleges and universities are still test optional, so students can make some choices about if and when to submit scores. Remember that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing: they can send scores to some schools and not others, depending on how their scores compare to the average test scores for applicants at that school. The general advice these days is to send the score if it is at or above the median score for admitted students at that school (you can find this with a quick internet search, look for “academic profile + school name” or “admitted student profile + school name” and you should be able to find the profile of their most recent class. A few other notes:
check to see if test scores are required for any scholarship reviews
if a student has really big gaps in their scores (like a 590 verbal and a 790 math on the SAT) it might be worth it to submit if they are wanting to major in the area where they have the really strong test score
Students who don’t submit test scores will have more emphasis put on their high school grades (usually unweighted) so consider if this is to your advantage or not.
Consider early action versus early decision options: A quick recap of some common terms related to application deadlines might be helpful here:
Early action: A non-binding admissions process that allows students who submit their application “early” (e.g. before the “regular” deadline) to get an earlier decision. Students who apply early action often get their admissions decision in late fall, early winter but still have until May 1st (or the school’s stated commitment date) to make a choice and can also apply to other institutions as well. This is a good option for students who’ve done their homework before senior year and have their list of schools pretty well figured out by early fall.
Early decision: A binding admissions process where a student applies “early” and commits to attending that institution if they are admitted1. Students can only apply to one school early decision and are supposed to withdraw any other applications if accepted, which usually happens in December. The admissions rates are sometime a bit higher for students who apply early decision and so there is a sense that if a student is 100% sure that this school is “the one” (a concept I don’t believe in), this will boost their chances to get in.
Regular admission: A non-binding date that you must submit materials by to have consideration for admission, often in early spring.
Rolling admissions: Some schools accept applications all year and don’t have a set application deadline, because they are reviewing and admitting continuously. These schools may have a priority deadline for scholarship consideration or a cut off date for a specific term (fall versus spring) and typically notify students fairly quickly if they are admitted.
(Okay, here is where I have to acknowledge a bit of bias: I don’t think ANY student should apply early decision. Early decision policies are, in my mind, unethical and PRIMARILY benefit the college, not the student. Early decision really benefits students who are economically advantaged and can commit to a decision without seeing a financial aid offer first or without the being able to compare multiple merit awards.)
Submit the FAFSA: Most years, the FAFSA becomes available for students and parents to complete beginning in October of the senior year, for the financial aid year that begins in the next fall. While this past year has been BAD in terms of press for FAFSA and the FAFSA experience for many families, it should be getting better for the 2025-2026 aid year application. Completing the FAFSA is done online and starts with creating a StudentAid.gov account for the student and parent(s)/guardians, which you’ll want to do before diving into the form. You don’t need to stress about getting the FAFSA done the first day it opens, however as financial aid isn’t given on a first come, first served basis. Just aim to get the FAFSA done before winter break and breathe a sigh of relief for having one of the big steps taken care of!
Additional note: Some states also offer state funded financial aid programs (this website has a handy map to link to options by state), so remember to check to see if they require a separate application.
Use your spreadsheet to keep track of deadlines: Some possible deadlines to have on your radar include: audition dates for programs like music or dance, institutional scholarships, financial aid deadlines for schools that also use the CSS profile (remember that most schools don’t use this, so don’t worry if this isn’t on your radar), portfolio reviews for programs like fine art or creative writing, and interview dates or dates to register for larger campus visit days.
All about essays: Admissions essays are such a big topic that they deserve their own post, so … good news! I already wrote one!
I do want to call out a key reminders though:
the essay should be the student’s own ORIGINAL work. It’s okay to help them with edits or let them bounce idea topics off of you, but this is a time to model integrity and academic honesty. No ChatGPT, no paid help writing it, no outsourcing it to a parent, please.
A lot of students have this impression that the best essays are about overcoming adversity or telling the saddest story. But they aren’t, which is good because, honestly, there are plenty of students who have had the good fortune to not have to overcome a lot of adversity yet. The best essays are when a student tells a story about themselves that lets the reader get to know them and what the care about. One of the best essays I ever read was about a daughter reflecting on what she learned about her mother from her mother teaching her to drive. Nothing dramatic happened in the story, no car crashes or anything like that, just a 17 year old reflecting on her relationship with her mom and how she learned about learning from her. It still moves me.
Don’t put it off until the night before the application is due! Every single writer benefits from letting a piece of writing sit for at least a day before making edits - so build in time to edit!
A note on pursuing private scholarships: One of my least favorite things I hear people repeat is that there are “so many scholarships out there”. This is both true and not. There are A LOT of private scholarships out there, but most students aren’t going to be eligible or competitive for many of them. Also, the mythical “free ride” scholarships are few and far between… the majority of private scholarships are likely to range from hundreds to low thousands of dollars. This doesn’t mean it’s not worth it to see if there are some good options for your kid, but I’d give the following advice:
First, NEVER EVER EVER pay to apply for a scholarship or pay for a “scholarship consultant” who claims to be able to find scholarships for you. These are scammy scam scams. Find out more about scholarship scams here.
Good places to look for scholarships include:
Fastweb (Note: you do have to create a profile and Fastweb does sell lists of names to colleges who use them to contact students with admissions marketing, as do other similar platforms)
BigFuture (sponsored by College Board, also requires creating an account, also sells names)
Some students will also have luck with looking for their or their parent’s employer for scholarships or tuition assistance, so that can be worth a quick check of the employer website.
A dose of quick reality: Almost every year it seems like there is a news story about a high school graduate who gets hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in scholarship awards. I hate these news stories because they rarely seem to include one of the most critical pieces of information: the student doesn’t actually get to accept and keep all those scholarships! The story I link above features a student who got $14 million in scholarship offers but she also applied to 231 colleges (a truly ridiculous thing to do) and most of those awards are from an institution or institution specific so by selecting to go to High Point University, almost all of that $14 million will get turned down. She spent a lot of time applying to things to end up having to turn down a lot of money. Some scholarships will have provisions that the awards can only cover the cost of attendance, so students can only stack awards for so high. Nobody is becoming a millionaire with scholarships.
Next week we’ll start diving into some of the tasks for spring and summer of the senior year, including how to compare financial aid offers and how to think about making the final choice of college.
They do have the option to back out if their financial aid package doesn’t meet their family’s financial need, but there is a huge downside to this because by the time they know that information, they’ve likely missed scholarship and even admissions deadlines at other schools.