How To Prepare For College In Your Sophomore Year Of High School

Hello, lovelies. I’m back with another “How To Prepare For College In ________Year Of High School” post (Man that was a mouth full!). I wrote one for Freshman year last week, so check that out and come back here for section two. Let’s get into it.

Other Posts In This Series
- How To Prepare For College In Your Freshman Year Of High School
- How To Prepare For College In Your Sophomore Year Of High School (You’re Reading It!)
- How To Prepare For College In Your Junior Year Of High School
- How To Prepare For College In Your Senior Year Of High School

//Make Sure You’re On Track To Graduate On Time

I already went into this in my Freshman Year post, so you can go back there to get a more detailed review. Just make sure you have all the courses you need to graduate and all the courses you need for whatever college you plan on going to.

//Stay Active In The Clubs You Are A Part Of

Stay consistent. Colleges like seeing students who stick to things and are committed to the clubs they are in. If you didn’t like a club you were in last year, that’s fine. Just make sure you join a new club or clubs you can stay in for the next three years.

//Start Thinking About Future Leadership Opportunities

Leadership opportunities arise around Junior and Senior year. Start looking up some of them now and see their requirements. Not everyone is meant to be a leader, but if you’re interested, start meeting the requirements and apply. Colleges like to see students who take initiative.

//Continue Volunteering At Organizations You Are Interested In

Community service is a great thing and something everyone should do, but let’s be honest, a lot of high school students only do it for school credit and college applications. Make sure you are volunteering at organizations you are interested in because you’ll end up writing about your experience in your college essay and people can tell when you are passionate about what you’re doing. There are also a lot of scholarships for community service hours, as well, so try to build them up early on.

//Keep Your Grades Up

Freshman and Sophomore year tend to be the easier years at regular high schools, so use these years as a buffer so that your GPA doesn’t take a turn once you take harder courses in the next two years.

//Start Studying For The SATs And ACTs

Since you’ll be taking the PSATs and SAT/ACTs in Junior year, it’s a good idea to start studying for those tests now. Doing well on the PSATs will give you more scholarship opportunities and going well on the SAT/ACTs will give you a better chance at getting into a good college. It’s better to start studying early than cramming last minute. Get a prep book from Barnes and Nobles and take a lot of practice tests. I know you will procrastinate when the time comes, so start going section by section early. It’ll save you a lot of stress in the long run.

//Start Looking For A Job Or Internship

I had an internship the summer after my sophomore year and in my senior year of high school. (I’ll write a post on this eventually.) We were required to have two in order to graduate, which is why I did so, but I learned a lot from them. Having two internships in my field really helped me in the college application process because it showed how dedicated I was. Even if you work at a Pizza Hut, you can still put that in your application. Having a good work ethic shows when you talk about your job and give recommendations from your employers to your college. It makes you stand out in a sea of other applicants.

//Start Researching The College Application Process And Requirements

I wrote a college application timeline last year. I recommend you read it because it’s good to have an idea of what you’re getting into. You should also start researching colleges you are interested in: their requirements, tuition, housing, etc. Even though you don’t have to worry about all of it now, these deadlines will come up sooner than you think, so start preparing.

I hope this post helped and tune in next Monday for the Junior year edition of this series. I’ll see you Wednesday.

Update** Part 3 – How To Prepare For College In Your Junior Year Of High School