2025 Timeline for the Class of ‘26

It’s the beginning of the new year, and I want to talk to you about what 2025 is going to look like for the Class of 2026. You got a big year ahead of you, so let’s make a timeline for the next 12 months starting with the SAT and the ACT.

There are three SATs left this school year. Those are March 8th, May 3rd, and June 7th. There are also three ACTs left this school year. Those are February 8th, April 5th, and June 14th. You want to take one or both of those exams two or three times. That way you can Superscore and put your best foot forward when you’re applying to colleges with those scores.

You want to finish testing by the end of junior year so that you’re ready to pivot to the next project with a deadline of August 1st. By then, you’ll want to have finalized your college search (that’s the list of 5-10 colleges that you’ll apply to) because August 1st is when most college applications open. It’s when the Common App opens with the over 1000 colleges that accept it, and it’s when many other colleges that don’t use the Common App open because they’re following suit.

Then you have two months from August 1st, when you can start writing those school specific essays, until October 1st when you want to get everything done, submitted, completed, applications in. This way, you give your guidance department two to four weeks to do their part of your application.

That’s submitting things like your transcript and your letters of recommendation, because colleges with Early Action and Early Decision deadlines, as well as schools with early deadlines for priority including things like financial aid and scholarships, typically want everything in their hands by November 1st. Though some of them want it as soon as October 15th and some as late as November 15th. But by getting your part done by October 1st, you leave nothing to chance and everything gets done on time.

December 1st is the earliest date we’ve seen for regular admissions, and many other competitive colleges have regular deadlines on January 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th. But you want to get it all done by October 1st so that in December you can sit back and let the acceptance letters roll in.

Yes, a year from now you will have been accepted to one or more colleges, and that is so exciting, but you’re only going to get there one step at a time by keeping an eye on the calendar and getting everything done that you need to. So get cracking and if you have questions. Call us at 732-556-8220. We are here to help.