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 “How
many times have people asked you, “What are you going to do
with your life?” Or worse, “What do you want to be when
you grow up?” Let’s be honest. Nobody becomes successful
without some degree of planning, but you don’t have to decide
your whole life as soon as you turn 14 years old. However, with a
little bit of reflection and planning on your part during your high
school years, you can experience success when you graduate. Use this
general guide in order to take the steps needed every year of high
school to plan for your pursuit of higher education and your future
career. Remember, this is only a guide. It depends on you, your parents,
and your guidance counselor to develop the best plan for you.”–COMPASS
Guide |
| Freshman Year |
- Begin taking classes that meet the minimum entrance requirements
of institutions of higher education.
- Take classes that challenge you and help you develop solid verbal,
mathematic, and reasoning skills.
- Get involved in extracurricular activities (such as school
clubs, sports teams, youth groups, community service clubs, part-time
jobs, etc.).
- Start saving for college early!
- Meet frequently with your guidance counselor.
- Begin to explore different careers. Use resources that your
school or local library offers in order to research additional
information about careers you can pursue. Ask questions about
the jobs of the people around you. Ask professors, church leaders,
doctors, business owners, bankers, accountants, computer specialists,
mechanics, factory workers, and others about their jobs and the
steps they took to obtain those jobs.
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| Sophomore Year |
- Continue with the activities you began freshman year.
- Keep taking challenging classes.
- Explore your interests, skills, and future career aspirations.
- In September, talk to your guidance counselor about the PSAT
exam and tell him or her you want to take it as a practice for
junior year. Register for the exam and take it in the fall.
- Explore different options for college and make a list of those
colleges and universities that interest you.
- Don’t forget to keep saving for college!
- Continue exploring careers and evaluating which classes and
extracurricular activities you are taking. Are you taking classes
that correspond to your potential, skills, interests, and career
goals? It’s difficult to be a doctor without having a good
knowledge of chemistry and biology. What is your plan? Which classes
will help you achieve your future goals?
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| Junior Year |
- Keep taking classes that will help you fulfill your future aspirations.
Make sure to accumulate enough credits and complete the classes
needed to graduate high school.
- Continue to take challenging courses and make sure you are
meeting the minimum entrance requirements. Grades are
very important junior year!
- Keep participating in extracurricular activities.
- Sign up for the PSAT and take it in the fall.
- Attend college fairs and information sessions in order to learn
about different colleges and universities. Visit different schools
in order to find out more about them.
- Start developing your leadership skills by taking on a position
of leadership. Also, consider working part-time or as a volunteer.
- Begin to research scholarships and other financial aid options.
- Register for the SAT and/or ACT exams. Study a lot, take practice
tests, and in the spring, take the exam(s).
- If you are considering going to college, which we hope you
are, consider the factors that are most important in making your
selection. Do you want to go to a school that is close to or far
away from your home? Would you prefer a university in a large
city or in a rural area? Are you considering a four-year or two-year
institution? Would you prefer a public or private university?
Think about what type of career you would be interested in pursuing
in the future and check to see which colleges have programs that
would correspond to your goals.
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Senior Year
FALL |
- Take classes that challenge you and continue working towards
your goals. Check in with your guidance counselor to make sure
you have the number of credits and classes required to graduate
on time.
- Obtain the admissions applications for your top four or five
institutions of higher education and begin to fill them out and
write any essays they require.
- Remember to CAREFULLY REVIEW the following: Do you have the
necessary forms? Do you have the checklist of what you need to
do to apply? Is an essay required? Make sure you know what each
institution requires.
- Ask your teachers to write and send in recommendations for
you if your schools of choice require them.
- Take the SAT and/or ACT again and make sure the official results
get sent to your schools of choice.
- Ask your high school to send your official academic transcript
to your institutions of choice.
- Fill out and send in the admissions applications BEFORE the
deadline. Some institutions have deadlines in December or January,
others in February or March, and others in July or August. Make
sure to check to see when the deadlines are for your institutions
of choice.
- Call the admissions offices of the schools you are applying
to in order to make sure they have received all the required documents.
- Spend a lot of time researching scholarships. Use the search
engine FastWeb. Also, you can visit MALDEF’s website (http://www.maldef.org/pdf/Scholarships.pdf)
in order to see a list of scholarships for Latino students regardless
of their immigration status.
- Fill out any financial aid applications for your schools of
choice and the necessary documents for any private scholarships
you have found.
- Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
in order to receive federal financial aid. You can find the FAFSA
on the site http://www.fafsa.ed.gov.
You should complete the FAFSA as soon as possible after January
1st, once you have your parents’ tax forms and your own
if you work. Turn it in before February 15th if at all possible.
To see if you meet the requirements to receive federal aid, visit
the website http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq003.htm#faz003_1.
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| SPRING |
- When you receive your admissions letters of acceptance, decide
which school you want to attend and confirm your decision to go
to that institution.
- Make sure to decline any other offers you receive.
- Start to figure out how you are going to pay the tuition of
the institution you’ve chosen.
- Make sure to accept any financial aid you have been offered.
- If you decide not to pursue higher education, what steps do
you need to take to achieve your goals? Have you taken the necessary
steps to begin training in whatever you have chosen to pursue
instead of higher education? If you are not going to go to college,
community college, or a technical school, and you are not entering
the military, start thinking about what you are going to do.
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