This is the year that College Guidance begins to work with you in earnest! In October you take the PSAT, and we provide you with the timetable for Students Applying to College for your class. In January we assign you to one of the three college counselors and give you access to additional features of Naviance's Family Connection through which you will customize your college search process. Your counselor is eager to get to know you, to help you identify your strengths, challenges, and goals, and to encourage you to take charge of the exciting next steps in your life. We engage your parents in the process, too; we hope they will call, write, or meet with us in the spring. 

The College Guidance Handbook for your class year will be posted in January in Family Connection's document library. Your counselor expects you to read it and to follow the procedures that it outlines. You should set up an account on College Board if you haven’t already, and register in plenty of time for the SAT and any other standardized tests that your counselor recommends. We urge you to use the free and low-cost SAT preparation material available through Naviance's Family Connection and the College Board.

This is surely not the first time you’ve heard how important it is to keep your grades up during the junior year. Save graded papers, and consider which teachers you might ask for recommendations next year. (And, of course, stay on the right side of the Discipline Committee!) Apply for leadership positions, and consider what unique contributions you can make to the George School community. Use the tools available through College Board and Family Connection to explore how your interests and temperament may translate into college majors and careers. Spring is the time to start researching colleges. Use the summer before senior year wisely: visit colleges, write at least one college essay draft, and start filling out the Common Application online in August.