JUNIOR TO DO LIST:

*Start creating or updating a resume` to use for college admissions and scholarship applications. Include all of your activities, awards, honors, unique experiences, community service, jobs, etc. This record will be helpful when you are completing applications—and anyone writing a recommendation letter for you will appreciate having this information.

*Do your research: explore college websites, take virtual tours and visit potential colleges. Juniors are allowed 2 college visit days. See counselor for College Visit form to be approved beforehand. Explore different types of schools to determine entrance requirements and admission deadlines. Make a list of colleges that you’re interested in.

*Sign up to take the ACT or SAT Tests if haven’t already done so or want to try to raise your score. Sign up at: www.actstudent.org or www.collegeboard.org. If needed, look into ACT and/or SAT Test Prep courses to help increase your score. See counselor for some ideas and options. ACT Online Test Practice website: https://academy.act.org. SAT Online Test Practice website: https://www.khanacademy.org/. Also, Success Center for Learning in Paris offers several options for both ACT and SAT Test Prep at http://www.successcenter.us/cpc.htm or call them at (903) 737-2900.

​*Attend college and career fairs. 

*Do invest some time for volunteer and/or community service hours.

*Put your best foot forward and clean up your social media to present a college/career-friendly image online.

*Check your class rank, GPA, credits and attendance records. 

*Do your best on grades, benchmarks and STAAR EOC exams.

*Register for dual-credit courses for senior year and choose the best courses for your senior year.

*Have your college list narrowed down to 3 to 5 schools by end of junior year. You may not where you will go to college but you should know where you want to apply.

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Need help deciding on a college and/or career? Check out the helpful college/career inventory website details below:

****Career Cruising is an excellent website to learn more about specific colleges and careers.

Go to www.careercruising.com and enter the user name (detroit) and password (75436) to access the following types of information:

SCHOOLS

Click on the state and then choose from a list of colleges and universities to learn these things:

Location

Faculty Information

Undergraduate Admissions Data

Application Deadlines

Entrance Requirements

Entrance Difficulty

Estimated Expenses

Types of Financial Aid Available

Enrollment Numbers

High School Class Ranks

SAT/ACT Scores

Athletics/Programs/Intramural Sports/Majors Offered

CAREERS

Either click on the index of career names or type a career title (ex. Pilot) to learn these things:

Job Responsibilities

Workplace/Environment

Earnings 

Texas Outlook (predicted job growth or decline)

Education and Training

Sample Career Paths

Related Careers

~~You can also read interviews with ‘real’ people who are employed in a particular career.  These interviews give insight to the pros and cons of entering a profession and the personal opinions of those being interviewed.