Plan out a challenging program of classes to take.

• Take the Pre-ACT test at Cedar Catholic in the fall (normally in September, October, or November). This is a valuable test to help you prepare for the ACT which you should begin taking during your junior year.

• Review Pre-ACT test results with your parents and school counselor.

• Colleges care about which courses you’re taking in high school. Remember, you will have more options if you start planning now for college and do your best to earn good grades.

• The courses you take in high school show colleges what kind of goals you set for yourself. Are you signing up for advanced classes, honors sections, or accelerated sequences? Are you choosing electives that really stretch your mind and help you develop new abilities? Or are you doing just enough to get by?

• Colleges will be more impressed by respectable grades in challenging courses than by outstanding grades in easy ones.

• Do your high school course selections match what most colleges expect you to know? For example, many colleges require two to four years of foreign language study.

• Establish your high school schedule to make you eligible for college:

• 4 years of English

• 3-4 years of Math (from Alg. I, Geometry, Alg. II, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, or Calculus)

• At least 2 years of Foreign Language (for some 4 year colleges)

• 3-4 years of Natural Science

• 3 years of History/Social Studies

Create a file of important documents and notes.

• Copies of report cards.

• Lists of awards and honors.

• Lists of school and community activities in which you are involved, including both paid and volunteer work, and descriptions of what you do.

Stay active in clubs, activities, and sports that you enjoy.

• Study, study, study. Colleges look at your permanent academic record for admissions beginning with freshman-year grades. Use the study skills you learn in your classes.

• Think about an after school or summer job to start saving for college.