By this time next year, you will be putting the finishing touches on a year of hard work, exploration, and self-discovery unlike anything you may do again in your lifetime. Daunting, yes, but remember: it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You have been preparing for this coming year for more than a decade, and if you stay on track and follow some simple guidelines along the way, you will conquer the college admissions process in one piece and position yourself for future academic success at any number of schools.

​At the highest level, your plan should include some key components for academics, testing and prep, and school research and selection. Each will be a facet of the college applications you will submit next year.
 
Here is our roadmap for how to break the process up into manageable chunks and which components to tackle as the year progresses.
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