The Foreign Service Journal, December 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2021 85 FROM THE DECEMBER 2018 FSJ EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT For High School Juniors (and Sophomores): Research Your Colleges Over Winter Break— and Get a Head Start on the College Admissions Process BY FRANCESCA HUEMER KELLY F irst, you will need a way to record notes on each college. You can do this electronically on a spreadsheet, in Google docs/ sheets, OneNote or other online soft- ware; or you can keep handwritten notes in a notebook or portable filing system. Your high school might even offer software like Naviance or Col- lege Planner Pro that will allow you to record and organize the informa- tion. If not, the very practical website www.admissionpossible.com has different organizers and checklists. For your filing system, you will need the following categories, some of which can be combined: • Name of College or University (location/URL) • Tuition, Room and Board Costs • Majors, Classes and Activities that you’re interested in • Deadlines for Application and for Scholarships (which are often earlier than the general application deadline) • Type of Application: Common Application, Coalition Applica- tion, Universal Application or the college’s own application • Number of Essays Required (Start a document where you can cut and paste all essay prompts. Use last year’s prompts until the college publishes new ones, usually in August before your senior year.) • Other Requirements for Admission (particularly impor- tant for non-U.S. colleges) • Personal notes The complete article appeared in the December 2018 FSJ .