Creating a 4-Year High School Plan

The beginning of high school is the time to start planning for college. In 9th grade, students should start thinking about what colleges they are interested in, potential college majors, and possible career choices. All of this information will allow students to form a high school plan based on their aspirations and goals. Creating a detailed plan is important because it will keep students on track and ensure they will be competitive for the level of colleges they apply to in their senior year.

A 4-year high school plan covers all of the essential elements of a college application: academics, standardized tests, extracurricular activities, gathering topics for essays, and planning when college applications will begin. Including all of these aspects will make the college application process much easier.

Regarding academic planning, students must consider what colleges they will be applying to in their senior year of high school. If applying to top 50 colleges, students must fill their schedules with the most rigorous courses possible. This means taking AP, IB, or another advanced program offered by their school. This does not meant that students must replace all of their electives with advanced courses; this would do more harm than good. Students must have at least one elective to maintain balance.

Standardized tests must also be planned for in order to do well on them. Factors to consider include what the average scores of a student's colleges of choice are, whether the SAT or ACT works better for the student, and how to study for the tests. Students need a significant amount of time to study for these important tests, and should begin studying years before senior year. When creating a testing plan, include actual test dates as well as studying (including methods) in between. Students should try to complete testing before the fall of their senior year.

Extracurricular activities take a long time to create. Colleges no longer want students who are in a bunch of random clubs or sports, they want "spiked" individuals. This is why students will need to pick a passion and plan activities around it to make them stand out in the college admissions process. In order to convey passion, plan on spending years participating in multiple activities regarding one subject, such as environmental activism. Plan each of these activities out.

Students should use their experiences throughout high school to form ideas for college essays, especially the main personal statement essay that will be sent to all colleges. Students planning on applying to many colleges with lots of supplemental essays should begin writing them right at the start of their senior year. All applicants should spend significant amounts of time on the personal statement essay and should start it over the summer.

More information about selecting courses, standardized testing, developing extracurriculars, and writing college essays can be found in our grade-level guides.