College Planning in the Sophomore Year
While it’s great to have goals, you don’t need to know where you want to go to college yet. You don’t even start applying to colleges until the fall of your senior year. At this point, you should spend time developing your qualifications to give yourself as many college options as possible.
In the classroom...
Continue to challenge yourself academically - If you are performing well in your classes, and think they are easy, you should consider taking a more challenging course load next year. Talk to your school counselor about 'increasing your rigor'. If possible, try to take a course in English, Math, Science, Social Studies and World Language every year.
Consider taking college-level courses - If you are doing well at the honors level, it might be time to try a college level course.
Form relationships with your teachers and school counselor - Eventually, you'll need someone to write letters of recommendation for you. Spend time getting to know your teachers and school counselor. It will make school a lot more fun!
SAT/ACT preparation...
Prepare for the SAT/ACT - Monticello students have the opportunity to take the PSAT at school in the fall of their sophomore and junior year. There are many resources for you to practice taking these tests. CollegeBoard and Khan Academy have a very thorough resource. If you want to take the ACT's, there are study guides on their website.
Read - The more you read in your spare time, the better prepared you will be for the SAT and/or ACT.
Exploring your interests...
Start to visit campuses so you start to understand what type of college will be a good fit for you. You can research colleges through your SchooLinks account.
Stay involved - Colleges care about how you spend your time outside of the classroom because they're wondering what type of citizen you will be like in their college community. Seek out opportunities to pursue your interests through electives, clubs, and activities outside the school building. Find an activity that is meaningful to you and work to develop your talents. You may find that there are lots of activities for you to get involved with and that you need to make hard choices about where to dedicate your time and energy. Is there a leadership opportunity you'd like to pursue?
Continue tracking your extracurriculars - If you aren't already keeping a cumulative list of your high school activities, now is the time to start writing them down. You don't want to have to try to remember them all when you're filling out applications in the fall of your senior year. Here's one option on how to track your activities.
Research potential career paths & majors of study - Having an idea of what you want to do after college will help shape your class, extracurricular, and college choices. Exploring areas of study early can help you choose activities and courses in high school that will prepare you for college.
