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August
Soon (this month or next) you need to decide if you are going to apply to highly selective colleges. If so, you need to understand that many of the applications require multiple (yes, more than one) essays, and that many of the regular application deadline dates will be in January, possibly even December.
You also need to decide if you are going to apply to a college through early decision or early action. If so, you will need to have your application completed by the end of October or middle of November, depending on the school's deadline.
If you're not going to apply to highly selective colleges but still intend to apply to selective colleges, most of the application deadlines will be in January, February, or March. This gives you a bit more time to complete your applications and even take the SAT or ACT again in December, if needed.
Also, keep in mind that school-based scholarships have deadlines. Lots of colleges will automatically consider you for their school-based scholarships when you apply—it's your application for admission that triggers the process. Yet their scholarship deadline might precede their admissions deadline. So it's best to try to complete your applications by December.
Open admissions colleges, such as a community college, usually have deadlines in April, May, or even June. But if you are interested in financial aid, you'll still need to complete your FAFSA between January and March and complete a financial aid form by February if you want to be considered for aid.
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