Freshman - Junior Year

It's never too early to start considering plans after high school.

• Take college-prep courses—Take challenging courses in high school (e.g., honors, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), HS/college dual enrollment), focusing on the core academics: English, math, science, history, and world languages. Rigorous courses that go beyond the minimum graduation requirements will make you a more impressive applicant and can even earn you college credit while in high school!

• Focus on your grades—Your high school transcript is considered one of the most important parts of your college application, and good grades will distinguish you from many other applicants.

• Explore and commit to extracurricular and leadership activities—Freshman year is a great time to try several different extracurricular activities to see which ones are most interesting to you. Once you decide what you like, dedicate more time to fewer activities in order to become deeply involved.

• Find summer volunteer opportunities/jobs/internships—Summer is a great time to earn extra money for college while exploring different career fields.

• If possible, meet regularly with your guidance counselor—Getting to know your guidance counselor early in your high school career makes it easier to talk about your plans for high school, college, and career.

• Begin an ongoing dialogue with your parents about how to pay for college—Start discussing ASAP, both in terms of why you want to go to college and how you're going to pay for it. That way, you and your family will be comfortable with the topic when it's crunch time in 11th and 12th grade.

• Start saving for college—Even if you can only put aside a few dollars each month, every little bit helps, and creating a college savings account makes the idea of going on to higher education much more real.

• Search and apply for non-traditional scholarships (those available before you are a senior in high school)—Though most scholarships are available only for seniors applying to college, there are some scholarships available regardless of where you are in your high school career.