10 College Tips For High School Juniors
Junior year of high school is notoriously stressful. You are taking your most rigorous courses, and you have a lot of other academic, extracurricular and personal commitments. Here are some tips that will help you make the most of junior year.
Prioritize your physical and mental health. None of the other really good tips and admirable goals matter if you aren’t healthy. All students will have moments, or even days, where they feel super-busy and stretched thin. But if you are living in a constant state of overwhelm, it’s time to make an adjustment. Perhaps this means dropping a class or scaling back an extracurricular activity; maybe it means getting more sleep or making more time for fun.
Focus on your coursework.Your main goal this year is to make the best grades you can in the appropriately rigorous courses. Whatever grades you earned in the first half of school, how you do junior year communicates the most about how you are likely to perform in college. When all the other competing demands and shiny objects show up, remember this.
Cultivate good relationships with teachers. This is important for a number of reasons. First, your teachers can be great resources to you; they can help you better understand their course material. If they see you as a student who is engaged and intellectually curious, they will often look for ways to enrich your learning. Second, at the end of junior year, you will ask some of your teachers to write recommendation letters for you. Teachers will be more willing and able to write strong letters for students they know. Ask questions. Participate in class discussions and projects. If you experience a setback, persist through it.
Strengthen your extracurricular involvement. There’s no magic formula here or required combination of activities. But during junior year, pick a few activities you really enjoy and grow in them. Seek out a leadership role. Show initiative within the activity. Community service, paid work, school clubs, personal projects—all are meaningful in the college application process.
Come up with a standardized testing plan. Junior year is the time to start thinking about if and when you are going to take the SAT or ACT. I recommend taking a practice test of each type in the fall to see which one feels better for you; then prepare throughout the school year (keeping Tip #2 in mind). Generally, spring of the junior year is the right time to start testing. Register early to get the best testing location for you.
Start to think about your college priorities. Do you have a specific career goal? Are there topics you know you want to study in college? When you picture yourself happy and thriving at college, what do you see? Do you have regional preferences? How important is climate? Do you want to be close to home or do you want to experience a new part of the country or world? Reflect on how you learn best, what activities or experiences you want to have in college, and what kinds of environments draw out your best self.
Learn about types of colleges. Often students will be drawn to a particular type or size of college. Broadly, I think of colleges as large public institutions, mid-size private universities, and small liberal arts colleges. Add to that a few other niche categories: technical institutes, art conservatories, single-gender colleges and military service academies. Each type has its unique set of characteristics, opportunities and challenges. Usually students will gravitate toward a particular type of experience. I highly recommend the Fiske Guide to Colleges as a way of learning more about colleges. Websites like Niche and YouTube, as well as colleges’ social media pages are great ways to
Visit colleges—in-person or virtually. Start with the colleges in your area if you can, and try to visit a range of types of schools. In my hometown, I am within an easy drive of several state public institutions: University of Colorado—Boulder and Colorado State University. The University of Denver is a mid-sized private university close by. Colorado College represents the liberal arts category. Colorado School of Mines. We even have Colorado School of Mines, a public university with a strong STEM focus, and the Air Force Academy, a military service college nearby. Even students who plan to leave the area can learn about themselves and colleges by visiting these different schools. In the midst of the pandemic, colleges ramped up their virtual programming, and while a virtual tour isn’t as powerful as an in-person visit, these are a good way to start to learn more.
Talk about finances. Have a conversation with your family about paying for college. Will you qualify for need-based financial aid? Will you need to be cost-aware when it comes to choosing colleges? There are a lot of resources to learn more about paying for college, and junior year is a good time to begin learning more. When you go to a college’s website and see the cost of attendance published, know that what you are asked to pay to attend may be very different than what you see posted.
Do no harm. Colleges are admitting students not just based on whether they can succeed academically but also based on how they will contribute to the community. Character matters, and colleges often ask if students have been subject to significant disciplinary actions from their high schools or whether they have been in legal trouble. Remember that your actions in school and on social media represent you to colleges, and make sure to put your best foot forward. If you have had a disciplinary violation or legal situation, keep in mind that colleges generally understand that teenagers make mistakes; taking responsibility, learning and growing do a lot to show colleges that you will be a positive member of their community. Talk with your college counselor about how best to explain these difficult situations.