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With the new school year right around the corner, it's often a good idea to have a plan or idea of how you would like to approach the school year whether it be with your classes, exams, or opportunities.
Often, there are quite a few deadlines that often show up throughout the year outside of school, and so it's a good idea to keep in mind when you might need to start working on certain projects or prepare for busier parts of the school year. Here is a breakdown by month of common deadlines or schedules that would be good to keep in mind.
August: Start of the school year
For incoming underclassmen, it might be ideal to start asking around to upperclassmen and making connections with them as they can often be great mentors and positively impact your high school experience.
Seniors - Most college applications open on August 1st. Also, this is a good time to start looking for scholarship opportunities because some of the larger ones have early deadlines. Start working on your college essays because depending on whether or not you have a long college list, this could be a huge source of stress throughout the first semester.
September-November:
This is normally a transition period where extracurriculars start.
Juniors - The Coolidge Scholarship is a full-ride merit-based scholarship that is only open to juniors. The application is quite intensive and normally due in January and so it is a good time to look into this application and start talking with teachers to prepare.
Seniors - Many of the larger scholarships such as Coca-Cola or the Gates scholarships have early deadlines during the months of September, October, and November.
October: Juniors have the PSAT in October
November 1 and 15: Many schools that have early action or early decision application plans have their deadlines on one of these two dates. Some schools are even earlier in October, so check with your school to make sure you don't miss their deadline.
November 30: UC Application deadline
December: Final exams are during the month of December. For those taking AP exams, this is a good time to test yourself on the knowledge that you've learned throughout the semester or forecast to see if your teacher is on track with the entire AP curriculum. You can check out our article on how to use free resources, including the AP Course at a Glance which will help you track your progress on learning all the material for AP Exams.
Seniors - Early action and early decision results are available in the middle of the month.
Winter Break: This is a great time to start looking at applications for summer opportunities. Although it is early, many applications are due in January and February and winter break is a good time to start writing the essays required for these applications.
Seniors - Most colleges have regular decision application deadlines at the beginning of January. This is also a good time to start writing scholarship applications if you are satisfied with the early action decisions.
January-February: Most STEM summer programs have deadlines during this time period
March: March is arguably the most stressful month of the school year because on top of your classes, this is when many extracurriculars have state competitions and you will be in and out of school often. Additionally, many teachers try and wrap up units before spring break, which means a lot of concentrated tests and projects. There also is not often a break, and so there will be long stretches of school without 3 day weekends after President's Day and up to spring break.
Juniors - The school ACT is during March
April: April is the month where if you have not already, you should start reviewing for your AP exams. Additionally, many summer programs send out admissions results. Depending on your extracurriculars, some state competitions are in April.
May: May is the final stretch and many scholarship results come out during this month. Additionally, May has both AP Exams and final exams which indicate the end of the school year.
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