Should I be concerned about colleges and universities in Junior year or should i not be concerned yet?
I am a junior in high school. I am looking to apply to colleges next summer and just wanted to get a heads up to see what I was aiming for. #college #university
2 answers
Bryant’s Answer
Hi Hamid!
I hope your Junior year is going well!
That's great that you have a timeline of WHEN you will be applying to college. I think it's important to keep in mind that Colleges definitely take a close look at your performance/success during your Junior year. So no matter where you end up applying this summer and as a Senior, colleges will definitely want to see all the great things you did during your Junior year.
Also, Junior year is a year you definitely want to take some college standardized tests required by universities. You need to look into whether you want to take the SAT or the ACT (many colleges accept either) and take those tests at least once (ideally in your Junior year). In addition, some colleges and universities want to see how you perform on the SAT II (also known as the SAT Subject Tests).
My advice would be to begin researching some schools of interest now to see how you should best prepare for the application process this summer. Make sure you know what Test Scores they need! That way come senior year, you can just focus on completing those College applications.
Hope this helps!
- Bryant
Nicole’s Answer
I offer that you may want to consider this part of your education journey in buckets. It may be that you use the latter part of your sophomore year getting clear on what you want to study and why. From there, yes, I believe that your junior year is the year to be heads down on reaching out to colleges and universities. This includes taking/retaking standardized tests. College applications can take a good chunk of time because many of them require writing essays and getting teacher recommendations. So starting before your senior year can give you the time you need to put forth the best representation of yourself as you prepare for your college/university journey.
Best of luck to you!