Sophomore Year: Spring, Step 1

Get prepared for junior year by meeting with a counselor to discuss your classes.

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Congrats! You’re almost officially halfway through your high school career. As you transition from underclassman to upperclassman, be prepared to also transition into a period of intense college preparation.

If your last two years of high school were a book it would be titled, "Junior and Senior Year: This Is When You Really Start Preparing for College."

Long title but you get the idea.

To help prepare you for your junior year, meet with your counselor (yes, again) and discuss what you need to do to get ready for a successful junior year.

Junior Year Prep

In the winter you discovered what sorts of college characteristics really matter to you. Perhaps you found out you want to go to a large, public school close to home that has good athletics and offers engineering majors. Or maybe you want a small, private college in the Northeast with a little prestige behind their name. Or maybe you’re not sure just yet.

No matter how far you got in narrowing down your college characteristics, you’ve found out that you need to prepare for different colleges and different majors. When you meet with your counselor, consider taking these steps to prep for junior year and beyond:

• Go over your college plan to make sure you’re right on track.

• Plan out both your junior AND senior year classes. You don’t want to get to your senior year to find out you have no room in your schedule for courses required by your prospective colleges.

• Ask about honors and AP courses.

• Review your PSAT, PLAN, SAT, or ACT scores to see how you can improve the next go-round. (How to Improve Your SAT and ACT Scores)

• Discuss summer learning programs that might broaden your horizons and give you good experiences for your college applications.

Related Tools and Checklists

High School Sophomore Timeline and Checklist
High School Junior Timeline and Checklist

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