With all the materials you are receiving and all the information you need to keep straight, how can you keep things organized at home? Here are some tips:

 
• Make a box or dedicate a desk drawer to college admissions materials.

 
• For each school, start an individual file or folder.

 
• Get a wall calendar and mark deadlines for each school on it, including not only application deadlines but financial aid, testing, and recommendation deadlines.

 
• Work backwards to write in additional personal deadlines. For example, if a teacher recommendation is due on a certain date, mark down a month or two earlier that you need to give your teacher the form to fill out.

 
• Make a list of all the essay questions you have to answer for all your schools on one page to see what you have to write and where you may have topic overlaps.