What juniors should be doing right now

Most college-bound seniors have now made their final decision and commitment about where they will be next year. (Most. Some are still hoping for a waitlist opening. Some are still navigating financial aid and aren’t sure they’ll end up where they plan to go. Some are deciding late that they want to go to college and are grabbing rolling admissions spots or checking out community college offerings.) That means the clock is really ticking for current juniors, who have approximately 51 weeks to complete their own admissions process. An entire year from now may seem like a long time to get it all done. It may seem like a really short time. Both are true: it’s plenty of time, but it will go by really quick.

Some juniors are already far along the path. Others are just beginning. Wherever you are in the process, there are four things you should do before the end of this school year.

Do your best at school and finish with the best grades possible. Some people will tell you that your junior-year grades are the last ones that count. They’re not right: colleges will ask for grade updates, and it will be conspicuous if you suddenly have less rigorous classes or are getting worse grades. Colleges can, and sometimes do, take back your acceptance if they think you’ve let yourself become too much of a slacker. But they’re not completely wrong, either: senior-year grades will get checked, but they won’t be scrutinized like your transcript for 9th-11th grade. Your GPA and rank at the end of this year are much more likely to be your “official” ones for college admissions purposes, so finish this year as strongly as possible.

Decide if you will take the SAT and/or ACT. I don’t encourage anyone to rush to take one of the tests. Many universities are still temporarily test optional, and many are permanently test optional. It’s very likely you will not need to submit test scores, and there’s no good reason to take the test if you don’t need to submit them. You should base your to-test-or-not-to-test decision on fact and research, not a gut feeling. “I’m sure I’ll be fine without test scores” is not a wise approach, nor is “I have to take the tests, because schools really require them even if they say they don’t require them.” Look at the testing policies for any school you’re interested in. Also check the requirements for any major scholarships and honors programs at those colleges. See how necessary test scores are for you, and proceed from there based on the facts. You can take the tests in the late summer or fall—you don’t have to do that now.

Set up test prep if you think you need it or want it. Don’t sign up for test prep if you’re not really sure you need it. Test prep can help, but not if you’re passive about it. If you’re not going to really work at test prep, then it will be a waste. There are all kinds of ways to get help preparing for the entrance tests. There are classes through the big companies like Princeton Review, Kaplan, and Test Masters. Lots of school districts and local colleges offer test prep. There are private tutors and smaller companies that offer personalized programs. Khan Academy offers free prep, and you can also work independently with a test prep book.

Line up rec letters. Teachers who may write you a letter of recommendation have a long time before they’re due. But don’t wait until the last minute. Don’t even wait until the last month! Find time to have a quick conversation with the teachers who know you best. Let them know that you’ll be requesting an official recommendation from them, and ask them if they have any questions or suggestions. It’s a much easier conversation to have when there’s a lot more time for it. Now is the right time to ask, even if they won’t have it written until much later.

Do some large-sweep online college searches. Even if you think you have a preliminary list ready, spend time reading through lists and descriptions in case you’ve missed something. Just looking at a list of “Best Colleges” is worthless. Don’t waste your time with that. But doing some searches for more narrow topics can be useful. Look for rankings of top colleges for several majors you’re interested in. Search for best colleges in the geographic areas you’re interested in. Look for colleges that have other qualities you’re interested in. Be sure, though, to look at multiple sources and cross-reference the lists. Never trust a single source. Also, don’t put too much weight on the actual rankings: the difference between number 12 and number 28 may be minimal. And never stop at just the top five or 10. A rule of thumb for dealing with rankings from any source: assume the top 50 are actually tied for first place.

So, for example, imagine you think you’d like to major in biology or environmental science. You like the mid-west. You want a school with a strong sense of school spirit. I’d recommend you search: best colleges for biology, best colleges for environmental science, best colleges in mid-west, best colleges for school spirit, most underrated colleges in mid-west, best colleges for your money in mid-west, best colleges for your money biology, and best colleges for your money environmental science. For each, try to find several different lists or rankings, and look at the top 100 if they go that deep. The important thing is to look for patterns and which programs show up on multiple lists. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of them, and don’t take time to stop and do research on individual schools as you go. Just look at lots of lists and look for patterns and repeating names. This takes time, but it’s also pretty low-key. Do this before you start asking counselors and teachers for more specific help or doing deeper research.

I know you’re busy. It’s been a crazy school year. You’ve got final exams. You have projects and competitions. But you’ve also got 51 weeks left. The heavy lifting is going to happen this summer and fall, but you can set yourself up to have a much easier time if you’ll take care of these things in the next four to five weeks.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts:

   What happens in high school stays in high school

   Should you bother to take the SAT or ACT?

   Three things I say all the time

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What high school classes should you take?

It’s only the beginning of March, but it must already be the time when high schools are asking students to choose their classes for next year. I say this because I’ve already fielded several questions this week about class choices. Which of these two AP classes should I take? Which of these electives is better? Which classes are better for my college applications? What makes these conversations fun for me—but really frustrating for the students—is that there’s usually no clear answer. They’re choosing between two high-quality classes, and which one is “better” is really down to their own preferences or the nuances of the classes; there’s not an objectively correct answer about which one will help their college applications more.

The general rule to follow is that you should take the most rigorous classes available to you. But that’s awfully general. It doesn’t necessarily mean you should take five AP course per year, and it doesn’t exactly answer “should I take AP Calculus or AP Statistics?” Assuming you’re already on board with the general rule, let’s give some more guidelines to help you choose the classes that are right for your path to college, but also choose classes that are right for your present situation.

The first guideline: choose your classes for doing well in college, not just getting into college. I know it’s obvious, but it’s also really easy to forget: getting accepted to college is the beginning, not the end. If your high school strategy is just to get accepted to college without thinking about what you’ll do when you get there and how you’ll do it, you’re really setting yourself up for a rough time. You’ve got to think about the bigger picture and your longer-term goals and aspirations.

One big way students fail to plan for finishing college and only focus on getting in is by playing The GPA Game. I’m sure you’re familiar with that concept, but I’ll give a specific example of what I mean. For a few years I was in the position of teaching two classes of English III for juniors and a single section of AP English Language & Composition for juniors. I also had two sections of Honors English III, which had the same curriculum as regular English III, but also included more reading and usually an extra project or two. The Honors class had the same grade point boost as the AP class; it was a five point class, while the regular class was a four point class. Sometimes I’d ask “why are you in this class instead of the AP class?” I’d get answers like “I’m in all honors classes, and I also have band practice for two hours a day, and I also have a job. I don’t have time for the extra homework that comes with the AP class.” That’s reasonable. I’d also get “I’m going to take Dual Credit English next year, which I know transfers to Texas A&M, but I don’t know what I’ll get from A&M for my AP exam score or if I’ll do well enough.” That’s reasonable. But I’d also hear “Why would I take the harder class when I get the same extra points for this one?” That’s The GPA Game, and it’s not as clever as it seems.

First, anyone looking at your transcript can see that you took the lower-level class when a higher level was available, and they’ll keep that in mind when assessing your GPA. Admissions offices don’t fall for that trick. Second, the honors class wasn’t nearly as strong for college preparation as the AP class. (I know this for sure, because I taught both.) And finally, we are what we continually do, and continually playing games and trying to be sneaky doesn’t make you into the person you want to be. If you’re planning on college and have the capacity for the more rigorous course, then take it. Even if it risks lowering your GPA. Even if you can coast along in a less rigorous class. Don’t play The GPA Game.

Remember, though, that there are completely appropriate reasons for taking the less rigorous course. It’s ok to think about your personal development and not just your GPA. It’s ok to think about your long-term mental health and not just your GPA. It’s ok to take classes that are interesting and/or useful to you, not just classes to maintain your GPA. If you start college burned out because you pushed yourself too hard to take too many rigorous classes, then you haven’t done yourself any favors. Likewise if you begin college filled with shame and self-doubt because you cheated and took shortcuts to keep up your GPA. If you begin college with an impressive resume but no social skills because all you did was study alone, college isn’t going to be easy. This is why you have to choose your classes for more than just looking good to college admissions offices. You have to think about how you’ll be successful as a college student, not just a college applicant. It’s far better to graduate from your safety school than drop out of your dream school.

The second guideline: choose the higher quality class. Here I want to distinguish between rigor and quality. When we talk about rigor in high school classes, that usually has to do with classifications. AP classes are considered more rigorous than regular classes. High Level IB course are more rigorous than Standard Level. Core classes are more rigorous than elective classes. Those have to do with general classification, but they say nothing about the actual quality of an individual class. Quality has to do with preparing you for college and life beyond. Quality has to do with the experience of being in the class, which differs from school to school, teacher to teacher, year to year. There may be a lower-rigor elective that will actually provide much more knowledge and wisdom than a more rigorous core course. Which class is higher quality is often only known at the specific school level. You know which classes are higher quality, and you have to trust yourself (within reason) to choose those classes.

At your high school, does being on the yearbook staff provide useful training in publishing and leadership, or does it provide a free period where you mostly drop someone else’s photos into pre-made templates? At your high school, is AP Physics a place to explore the workings of the universe with interesting discussions and labs, or is it a place to do endless multiple-choice practice while being berated for not having enough natural talent? Let the quality of the courses guide you, not just the rigor labels.

Thinking about quality classes is especially useful when choosing between different courses within the same rigor classification. For example, I got an email last week from a client asking if she should take AP Biology or AP Environmental Science. She said she might have room for both, but the scheduling would probably work out so that she could only take one. She’s hoping to go to vet school after college, or possibly into agricultural policy, so this is an important decision. Which is better? I didn’t have a clear answer. I said:

If all else is equal, then I would recommend Bio as the priority, and adding Environmental Science if you really think it's feasible to do both. However, if there are circumstances that make you think Environmental Science may be a better choice for you, then trust that instinct. For example, if you know that the AP ES teacher is good about lots of hands-on field work, while the AP Bio teacher is just focused on drilling for test prep, then definitely take the higher-quality class. Or if taking both means letting go of one of your extracurriculars that you're passionate about, then AP ES probably isn't worth it.

It wasn’t a clear-cut answer, but it was the right answer. She almost immediately replied that she would

go with AP Environmental Sciences, because the teacher facilitates more learning. The AP Biology teacher is notoriously cruel and generally bad, she doesn't have many kids pass the AP test. Unfortunately I can't do both, I have to take Economics as well.

Once I asked her to think about quality and not just what would look best on an application, she knew exactly what to do.

The third guideline: how you explain your choice is at least as important as the choice. You will have opportunities in your college applications to explain class choices you made or grades on your transcript. A lot of people only think about this defensively—if they had a low grade or got put into a class that they didn’t really want or think was good enough, then they can plead their case. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you made a choice that you think might raise eyebrows, in either a good or bad way, then feel free to explain yourself. Let the colleges know how you think about things, not just the list of your choices. For any time when you had to pause to decide which was the better class to pick, be prepared to explain that decision.

Especially for the choices where there isn’t an objectively correct answer, the explanation will carry a lot of weight. Say you’re having a hard time choosing between one more year of soccer or taking a history elective that isn’t an AP class. “Even though I knew the history course is more academic than soccer, I decided to stick with my team for senior year because on the field is where I get to practice skills like self-discipline and teamwork that jut don’t happen as often as regularly in the classroom.” That’s compelling. “It was hard to say goodbye to my teammates, but I knew that if I was serious about going to college I needed to spend that time on more upper-level academic classes.” That’s also compelling. Either of those makes sense. “I’m good at soccer and get a lot out of it, but my counselor said it would look better to colleges if I take a history class I don’t care about, so I did.” That’s….not compelling. The explanation is a lot more important than the choice, and many times simply explaining your options to yourself will help make the choice much easier.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Don’t just get into college, finish it. Are Advanced Placement classes a scam? Questions from students.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What happens in high school stays in high school

Graduating high school and going to college is pretty major life achievement. Not everybody does it, for lots of reasons. Only around two thirds of Americans have a college degree. But if you found your way here to this website, then I assume that crossing the stage and going to college—probably moving away from home to go to college—is something you’re planning on.

College is a new start. You’re no longer confined to the strictures and bell schedules of high school, no longer looked over every hour. You get to leave a lot behind, and that’s wonderful. But let’s pause and take stock of some things you leave behind that you may not be thinking about. When you leave high school and go off to college, what stays behind?

Your high school grades. You’ll need to send an official high school transcript to your college once the final grades are in. And, if you’re like a lot of people, that’s the last you’ll ever see of your high school grades. The bad news is that they truly are part of “your permanent record.” The good news is that nobody is likely to look at, or care about, your permanent record. No matter how good, bad, or mediocre your high school grades were, you get a fresh new start in college.

There’s a catch, though. Your college GPA is very likely to be about the same as your high school GPA, or slightly lower. There’s a pretty strong correlation between high school grades and college grades. If you want your college grades to be different, you’re going to need to plan ahead to make that happen.

But unless there’s a change, your college GPA will probably be the same as your high school GPA. If you want to change, start planning now. Being a better college student than you were a high school student will require extra focus and organization. Time management skills will be incredibly important.

Your standardized test scores. Once you begin college, your SAT, ACT, or AP scores really don’t mean anything. They may have helped you get admitted to college, and they may even have an effect on your required classes in college, but they become useless after you begin. If you have scores you’re not proud of, that can be a nice burden lifted. If you invested a lot of your self-worth or self-identity in high test scores, though, the transition can be a bit more uncomfortable. But either way, those scores are done with.

I have to warn you, though, that that done-ness can come back to bite you sometimes. If you transfer colleges, either from a community college to a four-year college or from one four-year college to another, then those test scores may be meaningless.

Say, for example, you get admitted to a university based at least partly on your high test scores, but then things don’t go well. For whatever reason you fail a class or two (or three or five), and you realize the school isn’t a good fit. Your transfer application is going to rely much more heavily on your college record—which isn’t so hot in this example—than your high school record. The college may not even consider high school or SAT/ACT at all. This can be a big problem.

When I went to college, I placed out of the required first-year math and first-year composition requirements based on my SAT scores. That was wonderful! But then, when I transferred to a different college my junior year, they didn’t have the option to skip those requirements. And I didn’t have a math credit or freshman writing class on my transcript. So I had to take College Algebra and Freshman Comp my senior year. It was no fun.

Your boyfriend/girlfriend. I don’t doubt your affection for, and commitment to, your boyfriend or girlfriend. I do, however, doubt that you’ll be together for long once you’re in college. It just doesn’t usually work that way. Yes, you hear about people who married their high school significant other. I know people who have been with their spouse since they were in high school. But that’s what they call “the exception that proves the rule.” Think about it this way: when a couple has been together since high school, that’s noteworthy. People will call them “high school sweethearts.” It’s rare enough that it’s got a name and is something people bring up. Couples who met and together after high school? Nobody mentions that. There’s no special term for that, because it’s the norm.

I don’t think there’s any good reason to put your romantic life on hold until you’re done with high school (unless, of course, you want to, which is great also.) Nor do I think you should treat romantic partners as disposable, someone you’re just going to get rid of once you get to college. But far too many recent high school graduates are caught off guard by this dilemma. It’s okay to start thinking about it now. And talk about it. And plan for it.

Your family’s input and intervention. The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, guarantees that you and your parents have access to your educational records. You may have a Permanent Record, but you’re not supposed to have a Secret Record. What this means for you in practical terms is that if you or your parents have questions or concerns about your grades, the school has to respond. A teacher can’t legally say “your grades are your grades and I don’t have to explain them.” It also means a teacher can’t legally share your grades with others.

Once you’re in college and a legal adult, however, you get all the privacy. Not your parents. So the good news is that if your parents try to call one of your college professors to get answers about your grade and performance, the professors aren’t allowed to disclose anything (here’s a succinct graphic). The bad news is that you still have to deal with your parents about your grades and performance, and your professors won’t provide any context or support. It’s just you.

Some of the most important things and people to you in high school will suddenly get really un-important to you, really quick. Sometimes in ways that are freeing and glorious, sometimes in ways that can be a pain in the butt. I’m not trying to scare anyone or tell you that what’s important to you now isn’t really that important. I just know that there are sometimes situations where people ask “why didn’t anyone warn me about this?” You’ve been warned.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: “The Glossary: summer melt” and “The two things you need for success in college and beyond.”

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.