Advice for a rising junior?

lylee17
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 02:07:28 +0000

If you haven’t already, you should definitely join an after school activity. Try out for a sports team or theatrical production, join an academic club, or volunteer at a place near you. These activities are super important for two reasons. One, top colleges and universities are very concerned with what they call a “holistic approach” to admissions. What that means is that the admissions is process is more than just your test scores, GPA, and course schedule. They want to see you getting involved in your community. I know kids from my school who took course loads like yours, had straight A’s, got a 36 on the ACT, and were National Merit Finalists, but still got rejected from their top schools because they had very little involvement in any extracurricular activities.

The second reason extracurriculars are important is because they’re tons of fun! I’m sure you have some subject that you’re really passionate about. Find an activity that helps you learn more about that subject, or else learn a new skill that just strikes you as interesting. Learning doesn’t always have to take place in a classroom, and there are some things that can’t be taught by a textbook. Extracurriculars can also be a great way to relieve stress. Although some sports and “academic teams” (think science olympiad or speech team) are still highly competitive, others are super chill and might give you a chance to relax from all the stress that’s sure to come from taking 7 AP classes.

Speaking of all those AP classes, if you try to join a club or sport (or both) and find that you don’t have enough time to do everything, I would strongly recommend dropping some AP classes before you drop the club. Although AP classes are great, there’s absolutely no reason you need to take that many AP classes. It won’t make colleges like you less if you drop AP European History for mock trial, in fact, it will probably strengthen your application (see my first point). And there’s no reason you would need the college credit from European History, American History, and World History. Any one of those classes should cover the history requirement at any LAC.

Most importantly, I hope that whatever you choose to do, you don’t stress yourself out by trying to do too much.You only get to be in high school once, enjoy it while you can.

Message me if you have any questions!