Destination: USA

For many high school students, the junior year causes tremendous anxiety because of its importance in the college planning process. Students are generally aware that what they do in the 11th grade matters to colleges, but they don't know exactly how to plan for college.

If you are organized and equipped with the knowledge below, you will be able to successfully complete your junior year and increase the likelihood that you'll reach your college goals.

This Is the Most Important Year for College Planning

Because your junior year is your last full year of school before you apply to college, it’s the most pivotal year in the college planning process. Your junior year grades are the last full year of grades colleges will see before they make admissions decisions. It’s the last complete academic year you have to learn about colleges before deciding where you will attend.

How to Make Your Junior Year Less Stressful

Many students become incredibly anxious and stressed out during their junior year because they realize the stakes and feel overwhelmed by all their responsibilities.You can minimize your stress in 11th grade and reach your college goals by following a college application timeline.

If you start working on your college planning in 9th grade, you’ll have much less to worry about and do when your junior year rolls around. Also, if you’ve excelled academically in your freshman and sophomore years, you can be confident in your abilities to do well in your junior year.

What Do You Need to Do?

All college-bound juniors have a number of responsibilities during their junior years. Here are eight tips on how to plan for college and maximize your options.

#1: Take the Right Classes

The classes you take will greatly influence your college and college major. You should have been taking a courses to prepare you for your HL level IBDP courses during your first two years of high school. You can look at college websites to view their requirements for admission.

Colleges will evaluate you based on the classes you’ve taken. Colleges, especially selective colleges, want to see that you’re challenging yourself and taking your IBDP courses seriously.

Ultimate Goal: Have a schedule of challenging classes you can do well in.

#2: Get Good Grades

Not to put too much pressure on you, but your junior year grades are the most important for college admissions. They’re the last full academic year grades colleges will see before they make admissions decisions; colleges may not even get to see your first semester senior year grades, especially if you choose to apply early.

If you didn’t do as well as you wanted in your freshman or sophomore year, you can use your junior year to demonstrate your improvement and show that you’re capable of succeeding in college. Learn how to get a 4.0 and better grades.

If you don't do as well as you'd like in your junior year, it doesn't necessarily mean that your college dreams are shattered, though. You can make up for lower grades with higher test scores and exceptional achievements in your extracurricular activities. Additionally, if there's some extenuating circumstance that causes a dip in your junior year grades, you can explain the situation on your college application.

Ultimate Goal: Get the best grades you can.

#3: Get/Stay Involved in Extracurriculars

Other than your grades and test scores, your extracurricular activities probably have the biggest influence on the quality of your college applications. Colleges want their students to have exceptional achievements outside of the classroom, and they’re looking for individuals who use their leisure time to pursue their passions. By now, you should have narrowed your focused be exhibiting excellence in a particular activity or field. If you were part of a club, try to get a leadership position in that club. If you wrote for the newspaper, maybe you can become an editor.

It's more impressive to show growth and accomplishments in the same activities than it is to start doing a bunch of activities in your junior year. Colleges want to see commitment and demonstrable achievement. Check out the best extracurriculars for your college applications.

Ultimate Goal: Demonstrate excellence in your extracurricular activities.

#4: Prepare For and Take Standardized Tests

Ideally, you will be able to finish your standardized tests for college by the end of your junior year. That will free up time in your senior year to focus on your college applications, schoolwork, and extracurriculars. If you’ve been on top of the college planning process, you should have done some studying for your standardized tests in 9th and 10th grade.

We recommend taking the SAT/ACT for the first time in the fall of your junior year, and, if you don't do as well as you would hope, you can retake the test in the spring or in the fall of your senior year. If you haven’t done any preparation for the SAT/ACT before your junior year, you can spend the fall studying and then take the test in the winter or spring. However, if you wait to take the SAT/ACT, then you'll have less time to retake it if you don't get your target score on your first attempt.

Furthermore, if you're considering applying to any schools or programs that require SAT Subject Tests, you should take those at the end of your junior year. Assuming you do some basic preparation and take the tests right after you finish related courses, you should do very well. For example, if you take the SAT Subject Test in chemistry in May while you're taking IB Chemistry, you shouldn't have too much difficulty with that Subject Test if you're doing well in your IBDP Chemistry class.

Finally, especially if you're hoping to get into the UK or selective colleges in the U.S., you should take the IB exams in May of your senior year. The results do not come back until the beginning of July so your teachers will provide a predicted grade. Your acceptance is often based on this predicted grade and in the UK, you must take the IB exams and achieve a certain total score. Doing well in IB classes and inevitably the exams, demonstrates your readiness to do college-level work, and you can receive college credit by achieving high scores on the IB exams.

Ultimate Goal: Achieve your target scores on the SAT/ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and IB exams.

#5: Do Extensive College Research

You should have a good idea of which colleges you want to apply to by the beginning of your senior year. Therefore, you should do extensive college research in your junior year. You need to ensure you’re aware of all your college options and figure out exactly what you’re looking for in a college.

Do you want to go to a certain country? Do you want to attend a big or small college? Do you want to go to an urban, rural, or suburban school? Are you interested in an Ivy League school? A conservative school? A liberal school?

You can use college finders, college search websites, guidebooks, ranking lists, and college fairs to get a better idea of your college options and narrow your college search. Also, you may want to take college tours to check out different college campuses, learn more about the schools, and get a feel for colleges in person. In the current covid climate, virtual visits will be the norm.

Consult with other people who are knowledgeable about the college application and selection process. You can talk with your college counselor, teachers, parents, college alumni, or current college students. Ask about specific colleges or the application process; if you're talking to somebody who knows you well, you can seek advice about which schools may be a good fit for you.

Ultimate Goal: Figure out what you're looking for in a college and create a preliminary list of schools to apply to.

#6: Ask Teachers for College Recommendations

It’s a good idea to ask your teachers if they’ll write your college recommendations in the spring of your junior year. By asking them early, they’ll be more likely to agree before they start getting tons of requests in your senior year. Furthermore, you’ll give them more time to consider what they’re going to write. Before asking, make sure you know which teachers to ask. Also, learn how to ask for recommendations.

Generally, it’s best to ask teachers from your junior year, and ideally, at least one of your recommenders should teach a subject related to what you want to study in college. Most colleges that require recommendations want at least two from core academic subject (math, science, English, history, or foreign language) teachers.

Ultimate Goal: Get your teachers to agree to write your college recommendations by the end of your junior year.

What Not to Worry About

While you should be doing thorough college planning in the 11th grade, you don’t need to have everything figured out by the end of your junior year. Here are some specific aspects of planning for college that you don’t need to stress about in your junior year.

Picking a College

Even though you should be narrowing your college search in your junior year and start thinking about how many colleges you’re going to apply to, you don’t need to have a dream school or top choice by the end of your junior year. At this point, it’s best to think about the qualities that your dream school would possess and keep a list of schools that could potentially be good for you.

Also, for the U.S. schools you’re interested in, you can use the PrepScholar admissions calculator to get a rough idea of your chances of getting accepted to each school. Just google “prepscholar (name of school) admissions” to find the profile for each school and use the admissions calculator. With the calculator, you can plug in your GPA and standardized test scores to get an estimate the percentage chance you have of getting into that school.

Based on your odds of getting accepted, you can start dividing your list into reach, target, and safety schools.

Completing Your College Applications

You don’t have to start working on your college applications and college essays in your junior year. If you want to be ahead of the game and make your senior year easier, it’s not a bad idea to start working on your college application essays (U.S.)/personal statement (UK) in the summer before your senior year.

Note that U.S. early application deadlines usually aren’t until the beginning of November of your senior year and UK medical school, Oxford and Cambridge applications are due on October 15th. If you start working on your applications at the start of your senior year, you should have ample time to write and revise your essays, complete your applications, and send your transcript and test scores to colleges.

What's Next?

Are you planning on going on a virtual college tour? Know great questions to ask.

Are you interested in selective colleges? Find out about the most selective colleges and how to get in.

Are you relying on ranking lists to make your college decision? Learn why using ranking lists may not be the best way to determine the best college for you.