The Foreign Service Journal, December 2011

78 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT tests. You may also purchase SAT and ACT workbooks that teach strategy and contain practice tests (see Books on p. 90). • Don’t suddenly add a slew of extracurricular activities to your resumé . College admissions officers will see right through that. On the other hand, unless you’ve got a good reason, don’t suddenly drop all of your activities, either. Keep doing the things you love. Colleges generally like to see fewer, but more long-term passions, rather than membership in a lot of shallow, “show up for the year- book photo” clubs. M ARCH -A PRIL • Take your first standardized tests. That would be the March SAT and/or the April ACT, if offered in your area (see Testing Dates, p. 76). • If you are able to visit col- leges during spring break, make sure to do so. Make sure to contact each college before your visit to reserve a place on the tour. If you schedule an interview, make sure you do your homework. Find out as much about the college as possible, and ask specific and intelligent questions. For example, “How many students are enrolled here?” shows you didn’t even look at the school’s Web site to check statistics. But, “Can I do a semester abroad at a school where there’s an observatory, in order to supplement my physics major with an astronomy compo- nent?” shows that you are researching ways to make this college work for you. • Create a comparison sheet to make notes on each school you visit, and be sure to take photos, espe- cially if you visit several colleges in a short period of time. You’ll be sur- prised how quickly details start to blur. • Meet with your guidance counselor, if you haven’t done so already. You should go over your list of colleges and offer to write an “auto- biography” to help your counselor write his or her letter of recommenda- tion, which will be a part of your appli- cation. Some counselors also appreci- ate a “brag sheet” from your parents. M AY -J UNE • Retake standardized tests , if necessary. Summer is the ideal time to finalize your list of colleges, finish your resumé and write your application essay. Continued from p. 74