Sophomore year is a great time to start talking about the college application process. Our conversation will help you and your student frame choices with a future in mind, prioritize quality experiences, and take the stress and guesswork out of the journey.

Lean into all the ways you can get involved on campus and off! Quality is better than quantity, so join a club you are really passionate about. Find ways to initiate ideas and follow through. Lead others, or be an amazing support for someone else who is leading. Try to truly make an impact on individual lives and your community. Put in the time and the heart into a select number of activities.

You can open your Common App account as soon as you start high school, so go ahead and get yours set up now. You will need your Social Security number and some other information from your parents, so take a look, and then ask your parents for what you need. You cannot open accounts for UC or CSU until fall of your senior year, so don’t worry about those for now.

Keep your calendar up-to-date with every single deadline, and set reminders! There will be a lot of overlapping events, especially now that you’re back in school with homework and tests. Use your iCal or Outlook or a written agenda, whatever you will look at EVERY DAY. This is the most important time to keep track of ALL THE THINGS.

Plan ahead for school tours and your summer experiences. Seek out unique, interesting, and advanced courses, internships, jobs, and camps (in person and online) that connect very specifically to your areas of interest and passion. You have two summers to squeeze in those last pre-application opportunities. Ask Alice if you would like her to help with finding some!

Reserve time at the end of your sophomore year (at the beginning of your Junior Summer) to attend the Summer Jumpstart Workshops, 2 classes in June and 2 classes in August, that will get you off to your College Application Process with easy-to-use organizational tools. We will explore what college is, so you can start researching schools while your.schedule is more open.