The Foreign Service Journal, December 2011

90 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 know exactly what is required from each of your schools. As soon as you can, begin filling them out. You do not have to send them now (you will want to check in with your guidance counselor in the fall before submit- ting). Almost all online applications can be saved and revised later. • Create a system for tracking your college applications . This can be an online chart or app, a notebook, a big whiteboard on the wall, the Naviance Family Connect- ion Web site (if your school offers it) or any one of a number of suggested systems on college sites. Even before submitting your application, there are other deadlines and tasks to track, such as transcript requests. • If you can, visit any colleges that you haven’t had a chance to visit previously , or that you want to see again. For overseas students, visiting may not be an option. In the fall of senior year, you will put together your application with your essays and your list of extracur- ricular activities, and your high school guidance counselor and teachers will send their letters of recommendation, along with your transcript, to your colleges. While your classmates are scrambling to write an essay or find their busy teachers for recommenda- tions, you’ll be done with these tasks and able to concentrate on classes. Last word: try to look at the process as fun. With each college or university you consider, you are “try- ing out” different possible futures — and that’s pretty exciting. ■ College Applications: Books Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges with CD-Rom. Barron’s Educational Series, 2010. Comprehensive reference book with statistics on all four-year accredited institutions in the United States. The Best 373 Colleges, 2011 Edition . Princeton Review, 2011. Excellent all- around guide that weeds out the top ten percent universities for you, including humorous best-and-worst lists. Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Pope, Loren. Penguin, 2006. Although it has not been revised since the author’s death, this book is still a good resource for those interested in small liberal arts colleges that don’t necessarily have “big name status” but offer an excellent education. The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, 2012: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know, 38th Edition. Yale Daily News Staff, ed. St. Martins Griffin, 2011. One of the most interesting college admissions books out there because of its emphasis on student feedback quotes about their colleges. Cracking the SAT with DVD, 2012 Edition. Princeton Review, 2011. The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd edition. The College Board, 2009. Crash Course for the ACT, 3rd edition . Princeton Review, 2007. Create a comparison sheet to make notes on each school you visit, and be sure to take photos.