The Most Important Task of Freshman Year: College Applications

High School Freshmen Should Begin Preparing For College Early, While They Still Have Limitless Options Ahead Of Them...

Freshman year is the time to build habits, explore colleges, and learn how to talk to your counselor. You don’t need to invest a huge amount of time into preparing for college early, but a few hours of reading and learning throughout the year can save you from a potentially hectic senior year.

Building a solid academic and extracurricular track record are two of the best ways to increase your chances of being admitted into your ideal college, and that work begins your freshman year. Freshmen who actively take interest in various colleges and what they have to offer will feel more confident when they eventually make a decision. While it may feel like it’s too early to start thinking about attending college, your high school freshman year is a great time to get the ball rolling.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN THIS ARTICLE

• The Case for Starting College Prep Early
• Why High School Freshmen Need to Think About College
• What NOT to do During Your Freshman Year
• Start Preparing for College Applications Early

The Case For Starting College Prep Early

Freshman year is not too early for you to start thinking about preparing for college.

With so many factors that determine whether you’ll be accepted into a college or not, you’ll want to use all four years of high school to give yourself the best chance of being admitted to college. One of the biggest advantages of starting your application prep early is that you can create a college-ready plan to minimize the amount of work and stress you face during your senior year.

By starting your college application prep your freshman year, you can prepare for college slowly over time rather than rushing to finish everything your senior year. Making plans as a high school freshman with your college goals in mind allows you to start tailoring your high school experience toward your ideal college.

For example, if you know you want to be a lawyer, you can join a debate club freshman year and take a civics-oriented elective class. While these two small steps may not seem like much in the bigger picture of getting into college, they allow you to build a track record of sustained interest and dedication that colleges look for in potential students.

Why High School Freshmen Need To Think About College

Your freshman year of high school is an ideal time to start preparing yourself for college applications. Once you start working on building an academic and extracurricular track record, you’ll give yourself plenty of material to work with when you eventual start writing college applications. By spending a few hours throughout your freshman year preparing for your college applications, you can make your senior year go more smoothly.

ACADEMICS

While colleges may not consider your C in English as a deal-breaker, it’s still important to begin taking your academics seriously as a high school freshman. Freshman year is the right time to begin exploring your academic interests, take classes that will set you up for more challenging advanced placement courses, and begin planning for what you’ll study throughout the rest of high school.

Your main focus during your high school freshman year should be to maintain good grades and prepare for the long academic road ahead.

While it isn’t necessary to start taking the ACT or SAT until your junior year, high school freshmen can still benefit from taking a practice test to see how they would do. In addition, many strategies recommended for use during these standardized tests can be used in an everyday exam or test throughout your high school career.

• How Colleges Use Your GPA, SAT And ACT Scores
• 5 Ways to Raise a Low GPA
• 8 Tricks For Preparing For The SAT

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Extracurricular activities help show college admissions officials that you’re capable of committing to projects, groups, or ideas that inspire you. Exploring extracurricular activities that interest you is a great way to spend time preparing for your college applications. Often, colleges care more about the dedication you show to your extracurricular activity than they care about what the extracurricular activity actually is.

Freshmen can take advantage of joining their extracurricular activities early, as many clubs and organizations recognize seniority in some way. In addition, if you have been involved as a member of your activity since freshman year, it may be easier to secure a coveted leadership position that will strengthen your college application.

• How to Boost Your College Application with Extracurricular Activities
• The 5 Extracurricular Activities Colleges Love Most

WRITING SKILLS

Regardless of what you plan on attending college for, your writing skills will play a key role in helping you get there. College applications require personal essays and short responses to questions, meaning your writing skills are key. Students who haven’t intentionally practiced their essay writing skills may struggle to write responses that speak to who they are as a student.

For freshman preparing for their college applications, learning how to write with brevity and clarity can give them an edge when it comes time to write their essay responses.

However, the savvy high school freshman shouldn’t limit themselves to just learning how to write compelling essays. The college application process may also require that several of your teachers write letters of recommendation for you, and the best way to convince a teacher to write a good recommendation is through a professional email or letter. In addition to learning how to write professional emails, you should also consider learning how to write thank you notes and follow-up emails to make networking feel a little less intimidating down the road.

• The Perfect College Application Essay: Topics, Prompts, and Tips
• Common App Supplemental Essays: 6 Ways To Prepare For College Supplements
• How to Ask for the Perfect Letter of Recommendation for College

RESEARCH

Your freshman year is a great time to start researching which colleges you’d like to attend. For now, your focus should be on figuring out what your ideal college looks like.

Start reading about different colleges and visit their websites. You’ll quickly notice that no two colleges are the same. Take notes about the differences between colleges and what you like and don’t like about each of them. Doing this initial research can help you feel confident when you make your decision later on in high school because you’ll know you’ve been doing your homework ahead of time.

• What Is Your Best Fit College: How To Find The Right College For You
• The Difference Between Public And Private Colleges
• How To Find The Right College Culture For You

NETWORKING

Your freshman year of high school is a good time to start reaching out and building relationships with guidance counselors, professional college counselors, and college representatives. By investing in these crucial relationships early, you’ll feel more comfortable in your junior and senior years when you need to ask for their guidance.

For the same reason, visiting college fairs or college campuses during your freshman year can help you feel more at ease when it comes to applying for and attending college. The time you spend developing relationships with counselors, advisers, and the colleges themselves is a worthwhile investment in making your life easier in your last two years of high school.

• Why You Should Schedule College Visits (And How To Make The Most Of Them)
• How to Master College Fairs: Making Colleges Remember You
• 5 Ways Your Counselor Can Get You Into College

What NOT To Do During Your Freshman Year

Before you start psyching yourself out with a giant checklist, here’s a brief overview of things you shouldn’t be worried about during your freshman year.

• Taking the ACT or SAT before your junior or senior year won’t give you an accurate idea of your potential. You simply haven’t learned all the material on the test yet!
• It’s unwise to start writing college applications this early. You may change your mind about where you want to attend by the time you’re ready, and many colleges don’t even accept applications until your senior year.
• Don’t worry about hunting down financial aid or scholarships quite yet. Focus on your extracurriculars and personal skills to help you secure grants and scholarships later on.

It may be tempting to dive headfirst into applying for college and get it out of the way early, but a better investment of your time is to focus on developing the skills you’ll need to succeed. Learning how to network, write a compelling essay, and dedicate yourself to the extracurricular activities that interest you is the best way to prepare as a freshman for your future college applications.

Take a few hours over school breaks or long weekends to enter a personal essay contest or poke around college websites. Take a class that will prepare you for advanced classes in the spring. There’s no rush to get ready for college right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t actively prepare yourself for college applications in your freshman year.

Start Preparing For College Applications Early

The more time you spend becoming comfortable with the idea of applying for college and practicing the skills that will help you get admitted, the more likely it is that you will succeed. Instead of waiting until your senior year to start frantically searching for a list of the best colleges, why not start your own search now and tailor your high school plans to your dream schools?

By intentionally starting your preparations for college applications in your freshman year, you’re making a choice to be committed to your academic future. WeAdmit counselors share the same commitment to the students we work with; we want to help students get accepted to the right college for them. Our counselors can help you plan the rest of your high school years to help increase the chances of being admitted into your dream college.

Get The Ball Rolling Today, And Your Momentum Toward College Will Be Unstoppable By Senior Year!