BROWSE

Welcome to April’s CATES College Checklist!

Our monthly admissions-focused newsletter, the CATES College Checklist brings you testing and advising information relevant to your student’s year in school, salient webinars and podcasts, and important dates to remember.

Spring brings a cascade of culminating school activities—the big musical, the prom, graduation ceremonies—so we hope that you enjoy these special moments together, and we thank you for including us in your student’s academic journey!

Last updated: April 2023

JUMP TO:

Freshmen

Your freshmen are thinking about how to use their summer break to enhance their academic transcript or develop their Passion Projects, but their current concentration continues to be on academics.

Freshman Checklist

Sophomores

Your sophomores are finalizing their plans for summer, which might include an academic program and a work or internship opportunity. They might also be thinking about using their summer break to job-shadow to narrow down their career interests. Their focus should be fixed on academic excellence for the remainder of the semester.

Sophomore Checklist

Juniors

Your juniors continue seeing campuses for the first time as part of the exciting exploration and discovery process. This might include visits to schools that host Pre-College Summer Programs of interest while your students anticipate those admissions’ decisions. The testing season is in full swing, so be sure to confirm your student’s registration for a Mock Test with your local CATES contact.

Junior Checklist

Seniors

With the arrival of spring comes a torrent of emotion for your seniors. They will start experiencing any number of “lasts” at their current school while beginning to look ahead to a number of “firsts” as they mull over their Regular Decision notifications that will continue coming in until mid-month.

The waiting period for admissions’ decisions can be fraught with anxiety, so encourage your students to enjoy their time with friends and family in activities that might have been put on hold during the hectic application season. It is a good time to return to an old hobby, renew the joy of playing a sport, or develop a new passion that can be continued on their campus next year. The weekends are also an excellent time to continue visiting the campuses of RD schools so that your students are making well-educated choices as they narrow down their lists and choose their future schools by the first of May.

Senior Checklist

  • April 15: All Regular Decision notifications received
    • What does this mean?

      While most admissions decisions are released in late March, your student may receive admissions notifications via mail or email or through their admissions’ portals as late as April 15th. Ivy Day, the date on which the eight Ivy League schools simultaneously release their regular decision notifications, varies from year-to-year but is normally in the final days of March.

  • May 1: National deadline for submitting college decisions and deposit
    • Read our explainer on college decisions

      Choosing a college is one of the most important decisions your students will make. As they compare their acceptances to make a final decision, they should be weighing academic quality, cost, campus life, college graduation rates, and career counseling and placement services.

      While the above considerations are largely intellectual, your students should also heed that inner voice that might be reminding them of their emotional response to the campus visit – did they actually feel at home there?

      In some cases, your students might receive an invitation to join the waitlist for one of their top choices. This option comes with a fair amount of stress as decision dates may come as late as July and the uncertainty can fray even the most unflappable students. If a waitlist invitation is accepted, it is important that your student communicate their continued interest in an email to the school, reiterating their dedication to admission and highlighting the following: new extracurricular or community involvement; awards, honors, or recognition; or updated test scores. This letter is your student’s opportunity to bolster their chances of being chosen for one of those final spots–and they should also make the deposit for their second choice!

      If a final decision has not been confidently made by the end of April, schedule a clarifying conversation with your CATES contact. The national deadline for submitting college decisions and the nonrefundable deposit is May 1st.

  • April: Begin AP test preparation
BROWSE