Utilizing the 9th-12th Grades. College Admissions Prep Throughout High School
This blog post will discuss what all you can do to prepare for college in high school so that you don’t end up in you senior year without a clue and application deadlines around the corner. I will go over how you can start preparing all the way in ninth grade and keep working towards college through to your senior year. This blog post is great for both parents who want their children to succeed and students with enough drive to take their education into their own hands. If you want to learn more about how to prepare for college throughout high school, keep reading!
Hi students, parents, readers, and writerly friends!
The last two times we spoke in Freelancing, we talked about college admissions essays and what YA Fiction gets wrong about college. This week, we’re continuing the discussion about college prep and when exactly you should be doing what to ensure you do the very best to get into the college of your dreams and stand a chance against the competition. This blog post does not go into detail about the college admissions essay, but I did write a post that deep dives into that, so click here to check it out.
Instead, this blog post will discuss what all you can do to prepare for college in high school so that you don’t end up in you senior year without a clue and application deadlines around the corner. I will go over how you can start preparing all the way in ninth grade and keep working towards college through to your senior year. This blog post is great for both parents who want their children to succeed and students with enough drive to take their education into their own hands. If you want to learn more about how to prepare for college throughout high school, keep reading!
Before we begin, you should know that colleges aren’t looking for superheroes; they’re looking for real, genuine, fantastic human beings. Honors, awards, and AP classes aren’t everything, but they certainly look great on your college application for sure. Colleges know that students can’t do everything, but that’s not the point. The college application is not a list of boxes to check and is not expecting perfection. Colleges want to know what you’re good at, what you like, what kind of great experiences you’ve had and what makes you, well, you. Of course you want to try and make the most of your high school experience but don’t burn yourself out and don’t strive for perfection. Instead look at it like this: you college application is a polished, positive representation of your academic career, your extracurricular activities and interests, and your notable experiences as a teenager. It’s as close to perfect as a snapshot into your life can get without being a full-blown resume.
Freshman and Sophomores will have a lot of foundational work, but Junior and Senior high school students will find they have the most work over all to do to prepare. The last two years of high school are the most intense by far—with classes wrapping up, final grades being posted, GPA’s being calculated, and deadlines approaching with each week, it can be hard to know when and where to start. First of all, there are three key things to remember: 1) it is never to early to start, 2) it is always a bad idea to wait until the last second, and 3) it is too early to worry. While college prep is important and academics should be taken seriously, don’t overstress yourself about the future. Remember, you are still a kid/teenager and you should get to experience high school while you can. By following these steps outlined in this post, you can effectively prepare over time instead of cramming everything into your senior year.
Freshman Year
What should you be doing to prepare for college in the ninth grade? This is actually quite simple. Have fun, experience high school, make memories, and get involved. Don’t start stressing just yet, because you’re likely in your early teens, you’re still figuring life out and there’s no reason you need to have your future all planned out just yet. So, deep breath—you’ve got nothing to worry about. Instead, join or start clubs at your high school. Get involved with group activities like sports, choir, band, or drama. Join the student council or National Junior Honor’s Society. Consider how school clubs and extracurricular activities can give back to the community and start working on knocking out some community service hours early.
Highschool students heading to school. Photo by Stanley Morales.
But make sure no matter how you get involved, to have fun. Likewise, if you’ve done activities in middle school that you enjoyed, then consider doing them in high school as well. If you decide you’re ready for something new, set aside those shoulderpads or that old dusty trombone and pick up something new. Life is all about experiences and colleges want to accept well-rounded individuals. Ninth grade is a great transition period and an opportunity to try things out, experiment with different hobbies, and to have fun all while learning more about yourself. Additionally, if you decide to try out an activity or club but decide it’s not for you, there’s no need to stick with it if its not a good fit.
On the other hand though, never let the activities get in the way of a stellar report card. I totally understand that eighth graders transitioning into ninth graders are put under a lot of stress. Most students are expected to carry a full course load, participate in all kinds of activites, take up a part-time job, learn to drive, all against the backdrop of the tumultuous experience of being a teenager. I get it. Years 12-18 can be a rough time even without all of the added stresses from school and work. Again, just take a deep breath and remember that good grades must always come first.
Of course you don’t have to do everything ever, but see what activities you can/would like to get involved with that you can also work around your schedule and workload that also leaves time for free time and self-care. Don’t just goof-off in your early high school years. One lesson I had to learn the hard was is that classes get increasingly more difficult as you progress through each grade. If you ace the easy, early classes, your GPA will fare far better in the long run. Start making your grades a priority now. Likewise, don’t wait until the last minute to remedy your struggling grades. If you’re having a tough time in any of your classes, seek help as soon as possible. The first place to get help with your studies is always your teacher. They are there to help you and will likely work with you one-on-one to help you get the material down. Ultimately, the success of your academic career is on you, and not your teachers. Show them you care and make an obvious effort they will help you succeed.
Students in class. Photo by Javier Trueba.
Sophomore Year
By your second year, you should have hit your stride in high school. Sophomores usually feel like they’ve got a pretty good grasp on the structure of high school, how to balance academics with activities, and many have a general idea of what is necessary to be successful in high school moving forward. Remember to drop any activities you find aren’t working for you and join any that you might like to get involved with. And of course, don’t forget to keep your grades on track. If you had a rough freshman year, then the stakes are higher for you in your sophomore year. But don’t panic, you still have time to turn your grades around and keep going on an upward trajectory.
With that being said, keep up the good work and continue making grades your number one priority. Now would even be a good time to ask if you are able to re-take any courses you received poor grades on, to try and correct your GPA early on, while there’s still time to do so. Additionally, consider enrolling for AP courses in your sophomore year. If freshman year was all about the newness of high school, experimenting, and transitioning, then sophomore year is about layering on the things you enjoy and giving yourself a bit of a challenge. It will vary student by student, but if your school offers AP classes, enrolling in a couple during your sophomore year is generally a good idea. Don’t go overboard with your first few AP classes. I’d say only take at maximum two AP classes if you’ve never taken an advanced class before. Consider meeting with a counselor and even with the AP professors to discuss what the workload will be like moving up from a regular to an Advanced Placement course.
Now, let’s talk about Sophomore-Junior Summer. You know, that sweet spot between the early years and the later years of high school, were you can start doing the heavy lifting and laying the foundation for successful junior and senior years. If you haven’t already, start getting involved with your community. Consider joining a debate team. Pick up a summer job. (If you can continue working though the school year then great, but look for something seasonal that can give you some great work/life experience.) Likewise, you can also apply to summer programs, internships and join summer camps for similar experience. And most importantly, start studying and practicing for the SAT’s and ACT’s. Students who find they are poor test-takers or even overachievers will find calm in getting a look at these standardized tests well in advance. Students begin taking these types of tests in their junior years, so preparing for them over the summer helps alleviate stress and will make their junior year go by much smoother.
Junior Year
Students, I hope you’re feeling a fire under your feet because things are really starting to heat up now. Junior year is one of, if not the most academically critical for your high school career and ultimately your college admission. During this year you will need to buckle down and do the most. While freshman and sophomore years were more about finding your groove and getting acquainted with high school, junior year is where the real magic happens. Junior year is where students start lining up all the dominos they’ll be knocking down come the college admission essay season during senior year. This year, you will want to be striving for the best possible grades in the most challenging classes. The majority of your course load should be AP courses and honors.
Additionally, you want to be strategic about the types of classes you take for AP or honors. Students who have even a tiny sliver of an idea of what they might want to do in or after college should consider taking AP classes that align with their strengths and interests. Typically subjects split between Science/Math and Art/Humanities and students will find themselves on either side of that split depending on where their strengths and interests lie. Don’t sign up for AP Chemistry just because everyone is taking that class or because it seems cool. AP Chemistry is hard, and there’s no reason to enroll in a blatantly rigorous class if it won’t make sense in the long run. However, if you think you might want to study Humanities in college, it might not hurt to take an AP World History course, because this will help you build some foundational knowledge that could come in handy later.
Now that the experimenting phases of freshman and sophomore year are over its time to start ramping up your extracurriculars to the next level. You know that saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none”? Well the same idea goes for hobbies and extracurricular activities as well. Trying new things is great, but now is the time to stop being a beginner and start adding more challenging, advanced activities to your plate. If you really enjoyed Drama I and Drama II in your freshman and sophomore years, consider continuing with Advanced Drama, Musical or Debate. Widen your skills and experiences but continue moving vertically rather than laterally. Consider getting involved with leadership opportunities. Sign up for bigger projects and roles within your school clubs. Continue getting involved with the community and building up your community service experience. Start clubs that might be missing (and needed) at your school. Likewise, now is the time to show off your abilities. If there are any competitions or contents, junior year is the grade to do so. Sign up and participate in art competitions or a mathalon.
Next, during your junior year, you are going to want to form close bonds with key teachers, counsellors, and mentors. Consider what you’d like to do in and after college and see which teachers fit into that picture. If you’re wanting to get into the publishing industry after college, consider talking to your creative writing teacher about any opportunities they might know of that you haven’t yet taken advantage of. Mentors in high school can be invaluable and you should not take their time, attention and expertise for granted. Likewise, forming strong bonds with teachers and mentors who know you, like you and have a good sense of your character can be critical when it comes time to collect letters of recommendation.
While these letters alone won’t guarantee acceptance into any school, they are amazing for giving colleges a second opinion on you and shedding more light on your character outside of your own admission essay and application. It is true that these letters can be the determining factor that pushes a school to accept you as opposed to another student with similar academic merit. As for the letters themselves, consider asking teachers and mentors to write them during the spring of Junior year. This way, they have time to dedicate adequate attention and energy to writing a glorious recommendation letter over the summer, instead of stressing about getting that done on top of finals and a whole litany of end-of-the-year tasks.
Additionally, during the spring of your junior year, you will want to take the SAT or the ACT for the first time. By now, you’ve have many classes under your belt and this first experience of these intense standardized tests will prepare you for what is to come in your senior year. Which one you decide to take will be up to you. Most colleges accept both, but the SAT is more widely used. However, once again, consider your strengths and weaknesses. The SAT is more English/Writing and Math skills, whereas the ACT focuses more on Science. The key to these types of tests is always studying and practice. Taking these tests way ahead of time, such as in the early spring of junior year, rather than waiting until the spring of senior year, allows you to have a baseline. A baseline is the first scores you get from these tests and will help you determine where your strongest and weakest subjects lie. It will help you get a feel for what you need to study more of and where you can work to improve your score.
Lastly—and this is completely optional—but if your schedule and financial situation permits, consider visiting the campuses of the schools you think you might like to attend. Sign up for campus tours, schedule meetings with advisors and check out the clubs and activities available to students at your potential universities.
During you’re the summer between your junior and senior years, you are going to need to start actually preparing for the transition from high school to college. You will want to start putting together college lists, doing your research on prospective schools, practicing, and preparing your Common App college application and essay and preparing for one of the single most stressful years of your academic life. But again, don’t panic. With a little (okay, maybe a lot) of preparation and planning, you can certainly pull this off.
Senior Year
It’s no secret that everyone’s senior year is an absolute whirlwind of activity, stress and college prep. Not to mention, students often start feeling burnout, or senioritis as many like to call it. However, it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Senior year should be exciting, fun, memorable and you shouldn’t let stress rob you of those wonderful experiences that come with your final year of high school.
Of course, you’ll have a lot going on this year, but make sure to keep your grades up. Being the last year of high school, you are likely facing your heaviest, most challenging workload and there’s no turning back and no time for slipups. Stay on your grades, get help early, keep everything on track. This is the most important task of your senior year. Your twelfth-year grades do matter. Schools will look at your final year grades and can base their decisions on whether or not you kept an upward trajectory or instead let your grades take a nosedive once senioritis started creeping in. Collect your letters of recommendation from your teachers and prepare everything you need for the applications.
The second most important task of your senior year is taking the SAT/ACT early and with enough times to get as close to your desired score as possible. If you took these tests in your junior year, then great! You already know what you’re in for and hopefully it will be easier this time around. If not, then absolutely take your tests on the first available test date in September. Don’t cut things any closer by waiting until November or December to get your baseline score. Study often and rigorously, take the tests early and at every opportunity you have, and strive for the best possible score.
The third most important task of your senior year is putting together everything you need for your college applications and admission essay. As mentioned previously, don’t wait until senior year to start planning your admission essay. I suggested working on it late in your junior year and during the summer between junior and senior year, but if you have the time and the drive to start working on it a bit earlier, that is fine too. Just make sure you’re following the correct prompt from the Common App or your desired school(s)’ essay prompt(s). As mentioned, at the start of this blog post, I won’t be going into the college admission essay process, but you can read all about it here. What you need to know for now, and within the context of this blog post, is that at the start of your senior year, you should start brainstorming and planning your admission essay so come application time, you will already have a fabulous piece of writing ready to submit with your applications.
Piggybacking of that idea, consider what schools, programs, and scholarships you will want to apply for. Scholarships have a surprisingly limited application window and they will creep up on you in October, September and even August of your senior year without so much as a whisper. Get the jump on these scholarships so you can at least make every effort possible to take advantage of these opportunities as early as you can.
Man pulling money out of his wallet. Photo by Karolina Grabowska.
On a slightly different and arguable more awkward topic, your senior year is the time to finally sit down and have the “Finances” chat with your parents. Some students will be privileged enough to have parents and family members willing and able to pay their way through college. Others will be expected to work for college or take out federal student loans to cover their studies. Students who fall below a certain income threshold may be able to receive financial aid from their academic institution via the FAFSA. Have a realistic conversation with your parents and outline a plan of action for covering all potential college expenses. Narrowing down which schools fall within your family’s budget will help you determine which schools you might want to apply for. On the same note, discuss with your family how you will pay for application fees in December.
There is so much to do in your senior year, you want to try and get everything lined up during the summer. You want to know what schools you want to apply for early, so you can know when their application deadlines are, how much the applications cost, and devise a strategy with your parents. Many students face the stress of waiting until their senior year to do everything all at once. This results in missed deadlines, failing grades, sloppy workmanship, and ultimately burnout during one of the most memorable years of students’ lives. Plan ahead of time and put in the effort. Most of the work that goes into being as prepared as possible for college is doing research and planning ahead.
And that’s it for my 9th-12th grade college prep guide. What do you think about preparing for college throughout high school? Were you an early bird or a procrastinator? What would you do different about your college prep experience? Let me know in the comments below!
Further reading:
Thumbnail photo by Jeshoots.
—Payton
College Admissions Essay Basics
Hi students, readers and writerly friends!
Student taking notes. Photo by Green Chameleon.
While it’s not exactly freelancing advice, I thought with the craziness of the pandemic and school right around the corner, many graduating high-school students could benefit from some help with writing their college admissions essays. This blog post is dedicated to giving you all of the basics for writing an amazing college admission essay that will help you demonstrate your skills in communication and offer up a unique perspective on a little slice of your life that just doesn’t show up in your academic records.
What Is An Admissions Essay?
A college admissions essay is well—yes, it’s an essay, but it’s so much more than that. It’s an opportunity to give the college a glimpse into your life and your character. It’s a chance for you to expand upon your abilities both as a student, colleague, and ultimately a contributing member of society. If college is your extended education—the toolbox that contains everything you need to be successful as a professional adult (of course without the guarantee that you’ll get a job right out of the gate, but I digress) then your admissions letter is the big, bright red sticker on your shirt that says “Hello my name is—PICK ME!”
Colleges want to see you succeed, but just as much as your time and money is an investment in you, their time and money is an investment in you, even if they’re making a profit. By accepting you, the college is making a bet and taking a risk that you’ll be worth it. And an admission essay is the opportunity to show them all the benefits of their investment—all of the wonderful parts of your character that will come together to make you an ideal student.
What Makes A Good Admissions Essay?
I always say a good admissions essay is like a good memoir—it has just the right amount of self-pride, self-awareness, and a captivating narrative to tie it all together. Bold as it was, my admission essay was about writing. (I know, how meta.) Like I said, it was a bold move, because I knew the colleges I applied for (and got accepted to) were going to be keenly aware of my writing and communication abilities while comparing it to the subject matter of the essay itself. It was a risky move, but I came up with a formula that really worked for me and I’m going to share it with you.
Open Versus Closed Prompts
Given that the essay is a free-write or open prompt, you can really write about anything. Many schools offer this as an option now, in case you’d prefer not to write using one of their offered prompts. However, even if the college you’re applying to has a specific prompt, such as “Write about a time when you were challenged to do the right thing, even if it wasn’t the popular thing” you can still take it in a multitude of different directions. Do your research and determine whether or not your school(s) require you to write using a specific prompt.
Word Count and Formatting Requirements.
Similar to the prompt idea, you want to know what the word minimum and maximum for your school(s) admissions essay so you can get a better understanding of how much writing you will need to do and have a goal in mind to shoot for while you’re outlining your essay. Typically, an average college admissions essay will require no less than 650 words, but schools can vary, so it is always important to double-check the requirements for your school’s essay. Don’t worry about the word count during the drafting phase, though. Just write your heart out until you’re finished and then edit after.
Additionally, you want to make sure your essay is formatted properly according to your school(s)’ requirements. Most schools require their essays to follow MLA format, unless they have their own instructions or allow you to paste your essay into a text box on the application. Just make sure you understand what your school is asking of you before you go to submit your paper.
I linked a helpful webpage from Purdue University on how to properly format an APA/MLA style essay at the end of this post.
Write With Intention. Every Word Counts.
Of course, regardless of the word count minimum or maximum, you want to use your time and space to write wisely. You want to be intentional about every word, every sentence, and every thought present in your paper. The idea is to avoid coming across as an incoherent, rambling mess, because you didn’t take the time to ensure your writing was elegant, succinct, and carefully thought out.
Brainstorming Your Prompt.
Touching again on the prompt section, if you’re writing with an open prompt, you will need to do some brainstorming to figure out what you want to write about in your essay. We will talk more about this later, but essentially, you’re going to need to come up with some broad ideas of what you want to include in your essay. This will help you narrow down ideas for your narrative later on. The biggest piece of advice to remember about your essay is that you want it to reflect positively on you and your character.
Don’t Misinterpret The Prompt or Portray Yourself Negatively.
Some prompts are trick questions, plain and simple. As mentioned above, you want to come across in the best way possible, so the idea is not to highlight your failures and mistakes. Even when some prompts ask you to do just that. One example of a trick prompt is the “Failure” prompt. This prompt might present itself like this:
“The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”
This prompt is not asking you to write about failure—well, they are, but they’re asking you to explain how you interpret your failure and turn it into success. This is a fantastic prompt for showcasing your character and demonstrating how you’ve overcome obstacles. Think back to a positive outcome you’ve had as a result of making good choices in a tough situation.
Entertain Your Admissions Officer.
This is easier said than done, I get that. Of course, you want to avoid cliché topics such as why you want to be a doctor because you want to make the world a better place, but they’ve probably heard this story a million times. Consider how you can personalize your story and make it unique and interesting to you.
Prepare Well Ahead of Time.
Don’t wait until the last minute to write, edit, re-write, peer-review, and mail/email your admissions essay. This will haunt you. Start working on your essay way in advance so you have plenty of time to make it the best version it can be prior to turning in. Highschool students: it’s not a bad idea to get a head start on your essay a grade or two in advance. Likewise, prepare your applications in advance. Students always have so much going on during their senior year that its hard to find time to prepare their essays with time to spare. And admissions officers can tell when you’ve waited until a month before applications and essays are due. Typically the work seems rushed, incoherent, incohesive, and generally is poorly thrown together due to ridiculous, procrastination-born, self-imposed time constraints. Starting the process early will save you a lot of headache and take off the pressure. Don’t let these important academic tasks get away from you.
People discussing ideas in a workspace. Photo by Headway.
Get Feedback.
Share your essay with a wide variety of people—from those who know you well, to fellow students and colleagues, to teachers, to strangers. People who really know you well will be the best to get feedback from that reflects your character. Close friends and family will be able to tell you whether or not your essay accurately and positively reflects you as a person. However, they will likely tell you your writing is great and that is not constructive. For constructive criticism on the quality of the writing and the ability to keep the reader entertained, consider asking a stranger to review your essay for you and give you their honest opinions. For formatting, aesthetic, and technical help, as your teachers, advisors, and school counselors for help. If you really want to ensure you’ve got a great essay on your hands, consider hiring an editor to help you polish your writing. Remember to get many opinion on your essay and never take any one person’s opinion as the end-all-be-all. Additionally, most schools offer essay workshops to help you prepare for the daunting college admission essay. (Be wary sharing your essay with your peers who might be applying to the same school(s) as you. Competition in college admissions is a very real concern.)
Writing The Essay
Step 1. Establish your narrative.
First of all, why do you want to go to college? What will you be studying? What kind of experiences do you hope to get out of your time in college? Consider these questions because they will be useful in figuring our what kind of narrative you will want to use as a vehicle to drive your essay forward in a consistent, cohesive manner. However, your essay doesn’t need a thesis. Many English teachers will try to get you to follow MLA essay format, when that might not always make sense for your essay and your voice. What your essay does need, is structure.
For example, if I wanted to be a professional basketball player, I might want to think back to a time in my life when I first discovered my love of basketball. I might consider using a story of getting picked to play on the basket ball in kindergarten or when my dad lifted me up on to his shoulders to I could make the slam dunk as a 6 year old and how it changed my life. Really dig deep here. Find a story represents your hopes and dreams while also embodying what you’re hoping to get out of college. This might seem like a big ask, and that’s because it is. Maybe you don’t quite have a story that checks all the boxes. That’s okay. You can manufacture some details here and there. Just find a story that feels true to you and go with it.
Next, figure out how you’re going to string the essay together. Like I mentioned before, the key to a great essay is the right amount of self-awareness, self-pride, and the narrative. The narrative acts as the glue for your story. It would be really hard to make a cohesive, entertaining, and compelling essay about yourself without something to connect all of the subject matter together.
Step 2. Identify your self-pride.
Of course you don’t want to come off full-of yourself or disconnected from reality, so only include what is necessary here, and do it in the most objective way possible. If you’ve ever written a resume, then you might know that its useful to include a list of skills or tasks you are proficient at, so long as they are relevant to the job you’re applying for. The same goes for a college admissions essay. You wouldn’t talk about your trendy fashion sense if doesn’t somehow fit into your dream of being a pro basketball player, unless the two worlds overlapped in a way that made sense and fits within the scope of the essay—such as, if your love of basketball heavily influenced your fashion sense so much that you like to wear basketball shorts and heels to school. (Okay, maybe the example is getting away from me, but you get what I’m saying) It doesn’t exactly have to fit neatly within the narrative, but your self-pride has to make sense.
Step 3. Identify your self-awareness.
Similar to the self-pride element mentioned above—you should highlight your strengths. However, for this step, you want to be aware of your weaknesses. Consider any times that your weaknesses, both physically, mentally, or emotionally may have made things difficult for you in a way that fits into the narrative. Is there a time when your weaknesses challenged you to grow or revert back to your comfort zone? How did you react? How did you feel in that moment? How did it change you and teach you after you came out on the other side? How would you do things differently?
The thing about college admissions essays is that the college isn’t looking for someone who is perfect. Many essays come across as disconnected, narcissistic, and unrealistic because students write themselves into a perfect person when perfection just doesn’t exist. Colleges are looking for someone who is open-minded, willing to learn, has a thirst for knowledge, and will chase their dreams. So demonstrate these positive character traits and show how you’ve grown from your mistakes. The object here is not to highlight your mistakes but rather how they’ve shaped you into the amazing person you are today—the one deserving of an acceptance letter from your preferred college or university.
Women working on a laptop. Photo by Surface.
You don’t need a professional to help with your essay.
I would say most students don’t need to seek out the aid of a professional essay consultant to achieve the essay of their dreams. If you follow these tips and put in the work, there’s no reason your essay can’t come out amazing. The only students I would advise to seek professional help are the ones who a) can afford to pay a professional and b) are just really struggling with the essay process.
Helpful Links
I didn’t want to spend too much time on these, but I’ve included a list of helpful links. These can be great communities for bouncing ideas off of, getting feedback, and understanding the admission process a bit more. However, I encourage you to take the information you find on these websites with a grain of salt.
Of course, these are all just my personal tips and tricks from my own admission essay experience, from my friends and family, and from seeing students online who have both aced and tanked their admissions essays. I hope you found this blog post helpful! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Thumbnail photo by Keira Burton.
—Payton