It’s only been one month since school ended, but it’s already time to start thinking about the year to come! If you are a junior planning to attend college, there’s no better time than now to get ahead on those college applications. The college admissions process can be daunting, so here are some tips to help you through it.

1) Have an honest conversation with your parents

Before you start seriously considering which college or university you want to attend, you need to figure out how you’re paying for college. The last thing you want to do is go through all of the work to apply and get in and have your heart set on a college, then find out that you can’t go because of finances. Talk to your parents about the best way to pay for college: will they be helping you, will you need to take out loans? Sit down with them and actually talk about it, because it will help to avoid conflicts with them in the future.

2) Start early

The Common App, an application used by many different colleges and universities across the nation, has already released their essay prompts for the 2017-18 application year, so you can start now! It might seem like you have a lot of time to get everything done, but once school starts up again, that time will slip away before you even realize it. With the added work of homework, extracurriculars, sports, and other obligations during the school year, it becomes increasingly difficult to make time for writing long essays and filling out forms. In order to alleviate some of the stress during the school year, start your essays and identify the teachers you will ask for letters of recommendation now, that way you have ample time for help with essay revisions, and you can ask your teachers before they are inundated with requests from many seniors.

3) Stay organized

You know that sickening feeling you get when you sit down in class, then realize that you completely forgot about the homework due today? Don’t let that happen with your college applications. An easy way to make sure you complete everything on time is to maintain a calendar, either paper or digital, solely dedicated to college deadlines. Make sure to include not only deadlines for applications, FAFSA, or scholarships, but also notes about two weeks ahead of these deadlines reminding you of them. It isn’t very helpful to realize the day an essay is due that you have until midnight to write 1000 words, so these reminders will avoid last minute panic. Additionally, be sure to turn in your transcript request forms to the high school guidance office at least 12 school days before you need your transcript sent in order to ensure it arrives on time to meet the deadline.

4) Don’t overwhelm yourself

Even though there are tons of options to choose from, you can’t apply to every university that you have a passing interest in! There’s no use in applying to a college that you later realize doesn’t have the program you want, or is in a location you don’t want to live in. Make sure to actually research the colleges you are interested in, and visit them if possible. Apply to colleges only if you actually want to go to them, not because you’re curious to see if you can get in or because it has a recognizable name.

5) Work with your counselors

If you’ve only spoken to your counselor at annual meetings, now is the time to get to know them better. Your guidance counselor at HHS wants to help you be successful, but if you don’t make yourself available to them for this help, they can’t. Set up a meeting with your counselor at the beginning of the school year to update them on where you are in the college search process, and make sure to keep them in the loop as your plans and preferences change. Additionally, the colleges or universities you apply to will have an admissions counselor assigned to your area, so make sure to reach out to them. They can help you set up a visit, shadow a student, or even introduce you to professors within your area(s) of interest. They may also be able to help you as you begin the application process, but only if you show them that you have a genuine interest in the school.

6) Speak with current students

Anytime you go to a college visit, they’re trying to sell you on their school. While it is fun to hear about all of the unique programs or opportunities a school might have, you also need to know what life is really like as a student at the schools you are interested in. If possible, get in contact with a student that currently attends the school, because they’ll be able to tell you about social and academic life on campus. They may even be able to take you to class with them one day so you can get a feel for what your classes would be like. If you’re having trouble finding a student to speak with, talk to your HHS guidance counselor or the college admissions counselor assigned to your area, because they will be more than willing to assist you.

7) Apply for scholarships

Many seniors don’t begin applying to scholarships until they’ve decided on their college, but that is a sure way to miss out on potential financial aid. Most substantial scholarships require your applications early in the year, often before winter break. Scholarships early in the year typically require more work, however they also offer much more money than those that open after winter break and into the spring. Use websites such as Fastweb, Scholarships.com, Scholly, or Family Connection to find scholarships that you fit the criteria for.

8) “Safety” schools

When finalizing your application list, be sure to have at least one “safety” school, which is a school that you are fairly confident you will be accepted to. Although no college is guaranteed, knowing that you have a backup plan will help to put you at ease throughout the process. Make sure that this school is one that you actually could see yourself attending, not just one that you know you’ll get into. If you end up going here, you still want to enjoy your college years even if the school wasn’t your first choice.

9) Take advantage of Family Connection

Odds are you’ve forgotten your login information for Family Connection at this point, but now is the time to shoot an email to your counselor asking for your username and password. Most of you have used the school’s counseling portal freshman year for a learning style survey, but this year it will be incredibly helpful throughout the college admissions process. Family Connection has everything from scholarship lists to college visit sign ups, and taking advantage of all it has to offer is very helpful. Individual college counselors visit HHS, especially in fall, and you can sign up to meet with them through Family Connection. Another useful feature of the site is the scatterplots of past HHS students who have been admitted to colleges. You can choose any college you are interested in, and a graph is generated to show you the past SAT score and GPA of students who applied to that school, and whether or not they were accepted. Although you shouldn’t place your confidence in these graphs, they help give you an idea of where you fall among HHS students who have been accepted to different colleges.

10) Choose the right college for YOU

At the end of the day, whichever college you choose should be the best fit for you. It can be difficult to make decisions when everyone seems to have an opinion, but you have to decide what is the best for you academically and socially. Find the school that feels like it could be your second home, because that’s what it will be for the next four years.