Senior fall has about fifteen dates that matter and a hundred that feel like they do. Here are the fifteen. Print it, put it on the refrigerator, and let it run the semester.
September
- Week 1: Common App account set up, FERPA waiver signed, colleges added. Recommenders asked in person and invited in whatever system your school uses (Naviance, SCOIR, or Common App).
- Week 2: Transcript requested through the counseling office’s process. Counselor “brag sheet” or questionnaire completed if the school uses one.
- By Sept 30: Personal statement second draft done. Supplements for any Nov 1 schools started.
October
- Oct 1: The CSS Profile opens for colleges that require it. The FAFSA for next year has opened by this date in recent years as well; file both this month if any early-application college wants them for early aid estimates.
- Mid-October: Last reasonable SAT/ACT sitting for Nov 1 deadlines, where scores are being sent. Score reports can take weeks.
- Oct 15: Early Decision decision made — net price calculator run, family agreed, ED agreement signed.
- Oct 29: Nov 1 applications submitted. Not Oct 31.
November
- Nov 1: Most Early Action and Early Decision deadlines.
- Nov 15: Second wave of early deadlines at a number of colleges.
- Every Friday: Portal check. Each college’s applicant portal shows what’s missing. Two minutes per school.
- Nov 16–30: Regular Decision supplements, “Why us” essays first. Two a week.
December
- Dec 1–12: Remaining supplements. Inventory of everything outstanding on the refrigerator.
- Mid-December: Early decisions arrive. ED admits withdraw other applications; deferrals send one continued-interest letter; everyone keeps working.
- Dec 19: Final recommender and transcript check before winter break.
- Dec 28: All Jan 1 applications submitted.
January
- Jan 1 and Jan 15: Regular Decision deadlines. Rolling-admission schools — including several Pennsylvania publics — should have been submitted long before this.
- Late January: Mid-year report requested from the counselor if your school requires the student to initiate it. First-semester grades are read.
The Pennsylvania dates
- FAFSA for PHEAA State Grant: May 1 of senior year for most students. File it in the fall anyway; there’s no benefit to waiting and real risk in forgetting.
- Penn State, Pitt, Temple and the state system schools: check each for priority or rolling dates, which are often earlier than you’d expect and affect scholarship consideration.
The quiet weeks
Weeks 2–3 of September, the week after Nov 1, and Dec 24–27 are supposed to be quiet. If the calendar above is followed, they will be. That’s the point of a calendar: not to fill every week, but to make the empty ones possible.
By Jeff Thompson, Phortex Campus · August 11, 2026 · ← All posts