As the 2004-2005 school years begins to come to a close, the time for juniors to prepare for their senior year, and plan ahead for college has arrived with students picking courses, taking tests such as the SAT and ACT, and narrowing down their college choices.

Heading into senior year, junior class counselor Deb Tidwell encourages her students to “continue to take rigorous academic courses,” and wants to make sure that the seniors of next year put their academics first.

“I don’t want seniors to think ‘I’m a senior, it’s time to play,’” Tidwell said. “[I want them to think] ‘I’m a senior, it is time to work hard to get ready for college.’”

She added that she does have worries about seniors not taking her advice, slacking off, and not meeting important deadlines for colleges, and scholarships.

With the new SAT, she said that she wanted every student to either take the test in the spring to make sure the fall of their senior year is open to take the test again and improve their scores before students need to start applying for colleges.

Junior Caity Rogers said that she is following Mrs. Tidwell’s advice in advancing into her senior year, picking courses that are academically challenging to her and can help her prepare for a college environment.

“I’ve asked my friends who are good teachers and what classes are good courses to make sure that they aren’t ‘blow-offs’ so I can have an academically challenging year,” Rogers said.

She also said that she wants an academically challenging year, so she can work hard and prepare for college.

“I plan to continue to work hard next year,” Rogers said. “I want my GPA to be good for colleges.”

In terms of college, Tidwell said that students should be narrowing down choices of colleges, looking at schools that are a good match, and then plan a college day for next year

“They should know their top five choices,” she said. “There isn’t a college day for juniors, but they should be comparing through websites and should if their wants and needs match with a particular college and should then plan a visit [their senior year].”

Rogers said that she is following that advice also; she receives e-mails from College Board and looks into the backgrounds of all the school’s that contact her, though she said she is looking at schools that meet her needs and are close to home.

She said she is looking into Princeton, Duke, and other more local schools, and is preparing for college by trying to improve her habits and make sure she is ready for a college lifestyle.

“I need to improve my study habits,” Rogers said. “I get good grades, but high school is much easier than college and on a whole different level of difficulty.”

Tidwell also said that students should begin applying to colleges and some colleges would start approaching students with offers this fall, and students should look for scholarships and financial aid in the fall and begin apply for that aid in the spring. She also said that Junior/Senior Handbooks and a Guide to Financial Aid are available for students in the guidance office.