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Welcome to July’s CATES College Checklist!

The CATES College Checklist, our admissions-focused newsletter, brings you the month’s important dates and deadlines along with testing and advising resources relevant to your student’s year in school.

We hope the warm summer sun is shining kindly upon you, whether you are enjoying some seaside respite or beating the heat in the city. While your students are busy building their resumes with summer internships and academic programs, remember to take time together, passing the dusky evenings in conversation and breathing in the stillness of the season.

Finally, please note that July marks the College Checklist’s official school year switchover. The sections below refer to the school year that students will enter when they return to class in the fall. To our brand-new freshmen, welcome! To everyone else, congratulations on climbing another step on the high school ladder!

Last updated: July 2026

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Freshmen

Your new high-schoolers are still exuberant from their middle-school graduations and are excitedly whiling away the summer with their friends. Amongst the fun, they must make time to return their focus to academics during their pre-college programs—these experiences will help narrow down their future ambitions and become topics for college essays. If your student has yet to secure a summer job, they might consider adding hosting, administrative work, or child care to their resume.

Freshman Checklist

Admissions

  • July: Create a resume
    • Learn more

      A resume captures all of your academic and extracurricular achievements while providing a future employer a portrait of your character and work ethic.

    • Discover Application Support from CATES
  • July: Make the most of your academic summer programs
    • Learn more

      There are numerous social, emotional, and intellectual benefits to attending pre-college academic summer programs. Regardless of discipline, these programs allow students to remain focused on academics, practicing literacy and critical thinking skills and avoiding the summer slide. Socially, students are able to enjoy new places, people, and experiences and to live independently, usually for the first time. This experience allows students to become self-reliant and develop confidence that will follow them into their undergraduate years.

    • Watch our summer programs webinar

Sophomores

For your sophomores, the summer is ripe for exploration. Whether they are working at an internship or part-time job, they can begin to craft an image of what they might like to do in the future. Academic summer programs will further hone their list of possible future career fields. If your student has yet to secure a summer job, they might consider adding hosting, administrative work, or child care to their resume.

Sophomore Checklist

Academics

  • July 6: AP scores reported
    • Learn more

      AP exams test students’ retention of material learned throughout the year. There are thirty AP exams to choose from, ranging from Music Theory to BC Calculus. Many colleges grant incoming students credit or placement on the basis of their AP exam grades. Most of these colleges will only grant credit for scores of 4 or 5.

    • Discover Education Advising from CATES

Admissions

  • July: Update your resume
    • Learn more

      A resume captures all of your academic and extracurricular achievements while providing a future employer a portrait of your character and work ethic.

    • Discover Application Support from CATES
  • July: Make the most of your academic summer programs
    • Learn more

      There are numerous social, emotional, and intellectual benefits to attending pre-college academic summer programs. Regardless of discipline, these programs allow students to remain focused on academics, practicing literacy and critical thinking skills and avoiding the summer slide. Socially, students are able to enjoy new places, people, and experiences and to live independently, usually for the first time. This experience allows students to become self-reliant and develop confidence that will follow them into their undergraduate years.

    • Watch our summer programs webinar

Testing

Juniors

Your juniors might be wondering what has happened to the long, lazy summers of years past as they prepare for work or academic experiences that will enhance their resumes and college applications. They will bring home interesting ideas and unique experiences that will help them begin to craft their personal narratives for their college applications.

Junior Checklist

Academics

  • July 6: AP scores reported
    • Learn more

      AP exams test students’ retention of material learned throughout the year. There are thirty AP exams to choose from, ranging from Music Theory to BC Calculus. Many colleges grant incoming students credit or placement on the basis of their AP exam grades. Most of these colleges will only grant credit for scores of 4 or 5.

    • Discover Education Advising from CATES

Admissions

  • July: Make the most of your academic summer programs
    • Learn more

      There are numerous social, emotional, and intellectual benefits to attending pre-college academic summer programs. Regardless of discipline, these programs allow students to remain focused on academics, practicing literacy and critical thinking skills and avoiding the summer slide. Socially, students are able to enjoy new places, people, and experiences and to live independently, usually for the first time. This experience allows students to become self-reliant and develop confidence that will follow them into their undergraduate years.

    • Watch our summer programs webinar
  • July: Capitalize on your summer internships or work experience
    • Learn more

      Summer internships and work experiences offer students career preparation and job shadowing opportunities. In these positions, students have the opportunity to learn from professionals in the field and increase their communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. These positions not only enhance their resumes but also offer rich experiences through which they can learn, grow, and mature.

      Discover Application Support from CATES

    • Watch our segment on summer internships

Testing

Seniors

While your rising seniors are busy with summer internships and work experiences, they must find the time to begin molding the story of their high school careers into the Common App. It is very important for your students to complete the bulk of the application—especially the essays—during the summer so that they do not jeopardize their academic focus once school resumes in the fall. It will be a highly emotional journey, and they will rely on the support of their families and the empathy of their friends to overcome the challenge.

Senior Checklist

Academics

  • July 6: AP scores reported
    • Learn more

      AP exams test students’ retention of material learned throughout the year. There are thirty AP exams to choose from, ranging from Music Theory to BC Calculus. Many colleges grant incoming students credit or placement on the basis of their AP exam grades. Most of these colleges will only grant credit for scores of 4 or 5.

    • Discover Education Advising from CATES

Admissions

  • July: Make the most of your academic summer programs
    • Learn more

      There are numerous social, emotional, and intellectual benefits to attending pre-college academic summer programs. Regardless of discipline, these programs allow students to remain focused on academics, practicing literacy and critical thinking skills and avoiding the summer slide. Socially, students are able to enjoy new places, people, and experiences and to live independently, usually for the first time. This experience allows students to become self-reliant and develop confidence that will follow them into their undergraduate years.

    • Watch our summer programs webinar
  • July: Capitalize on your summer internships or work experience
    • Learn more

      Summer internships and work experiences offer students career preparation and job shadowing opportunities. In these positions, students have the opportunity to learn from professionals in the field and increase their communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. These positions not only enhance their resumes but also offer rich experiences through which they can learn, grow, and mature.

      Discover Application Support from CATES

    • Watch our segment on summer internships
  • July: Begin completing the Common App

Testing

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