Maybe you’ve heard someone say that junior year is the hardest year of high school. For many, that’s certainly true, as AP and Honors courses pile up on their schedules. Despite how difficult or easy you find your junior year to be, it will be the most IMPORTANT year of high school for your college applications. Junior year is the time to focus on academics to set you up for success for college apps next fall.

When it comes to college applications, the one thing that all colleges have in common is that they want to see that students have been challenging themselves during high school. This is really important to emphasize! That means ACADEMIC RIGOR during high school is a very important factor during the college application process. Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to load your schedule with five AP classes each year, but it does mean that you should make sure to incorporate some higher-level classes into your schedule, including AP, AICE, IB, and Honors classes, especially if you are hoping to apply to more competitive colleges.

But what about your GPA? Wouldn’t it be easier to just get A’s in less difficult classes, leading to a strong GPA? This is definitely true, BUT colleges are going to recalculate your GPA using their own particular system. When they do this, they will put more emphasis on higher-level classes, which will outweigh regular-level classes. That means, even if you may not get as strong of a letter grade in an AP class, it’s likely still going to help your overall GPA on your college applications as long as you can maintain a good grade in the class.

As you embark on your junior year of high school, here are some things that you should be focusing on to help set yourself up for success with your future college applications:

1. Challenge yourself (but not too much!) - Look at junior year as an opportunity to challenge yourself academically. If you have always liked history, consider taking a go at APUSH or AP Euro. If you’ve always had a knack for math, consider AP Stats or AP Calc AB. By making your high-level classes intertwine with your interests and your skills, you should be able to avoid some of the stress that comes with trying something new and difficult. If you have taken AP classes in your freshman or sophomore years already, use those experiences to help you plan. Were you able to juggle two AP classes as a sophomore? If so, maybe try doing three as a junior. The main difference between AP and regular-level classes is that AP classes are very FAST-PACED. There is a lot of curricula to squeeze into one year of school, so you can expect a lot of homework and a big time commitment away from the classroom. Do your best not to bite off more than you can chew, but do challenge yourself a little bit this year. Talk with your parents and counselor at school to get their input as well. They may be able to help you find the balance of a meaningful academic challenge that still allows you to have some fun and incorporate other commitments into your year as well.

2. Study hard - Regardless of how easy or difficult you make your courses during junior year, this is the single most important point of all. AP and Honors classes do nothing to help your college applications if you get bad grades in the class. (Now, consider A’s and B’s to be GOOD grades. I know some people hate to see B’s on their transcripts, but a B in an AP class should be considered a good grade!) Colleges want to see strong grades on students’ transcripts, so that should definitely be a goal that you set for yourself during junior year. Remember that you will likely send off some, if not most, of your college applications during the fall of your senior year. For most schools in the U.S., these applications will get sent before any senior year grades have been submitted. That means that the last grades the colleges will see when they review your application are your junior year grades.

3. Prioritize tests - I know that many schools are moving toward permanent test-optional status, with some even adopting test-blind strategies, but the truth is that the ACT and SAT can still help your overall applications to most schools. This may change in the next decade, but, for now, the ACT and SAT still hold powerful weight when it comes to comparing students across the globe for college admissions. It makes sense when you really think about it: the SAT and ACT are basically the only things that can be used to compare students from completely different walks of life. GPAs and activities can vary from place to place and how difficult one school is compared to another, so the ACT and SAT offer a unique way for admissions officers to compare one candidate to another. Oftentimes it may not come down to that, but you can bet that a strong test score that aligns with those of students admitted to the school previously is only going to help your admissions chances. It is for this reason that junior year is a really good time to prioritize the ACT and SAT tests. This addition to an already-rigorous academic workload is part of what makes junior year so overwhelming for some, so we encourage you to start planning for the ACT and SAT early. Keep the test-optional status in your back pocket in case you end up not achieving the types of scores that you want, but we encourage everyone to try and do well on the test. A strong test score will help your applications overall.

4. Get involved! - Colleges are all about community. This comes as no surprise since a college in and of itself is literally a community, whether it be big or small. And you can bet that colleges love to admit students who are active and involved members of the various communities to which they belong. Hopefully, you have already been involved during your earlier years of high school, but, if not, now is the time to jump in. Do something to volunteer for your local community. Join clubs at your high school. Get a job in a local shop. Put yourself out there, and meet people and get involved. But don’t make it about service hours and padding your resume - make it about finding something that matters to you and gives back! (See point number 5!)

5. Find your passion - It is a common misconception that colleges want to see a perfect student with a track record something like this: straight A’s in AP classes ranging from math and science to history and English, Student Council Class President, captain of the basketball team, a national award-winning debate champion, has a published research paper, interned for a Fortune 500 company, and did a service trip to Guatemala to help the locals and study climate change. You DO NOT need to try to be this person. Colleges DO NOT expect you to be perfect. In fact, when a seventeen-year-old has a resume that looks like this, it might seem a little off to college admissions counselors. Instead of trying to be awesome at everything, it is far more powerful (and useful to your future!) to try and find what really interests you and keep your endeavors falling under that umbrella. What are you passionate about? Is it history? Focus on taking high-level history courses. Find an internship at a museum. Join a history club at your high school, or create one if it doesn’t already exist. If your application shows that you are passionate about history and you apply to a history program, that will make a lot of sense, and it helps colleges see you as a person. Find what you really love, and if you don’t know what that is, explore!

So, there you have it. If you are currently a high school junior and worried about what to focus on this year, keep in mind these five things. Challenge yourself and study hard because your grades will be important on your college applications next year. Consider prioritizing the ACT or SAT (you definitely don’t need to do both), and aim for a goal score that aligns with the colleges that you’re currently considering applying to (we realize that it’s still a little early for that, too, but it’s a place to start!). And don’t forget about your life away from school. Academics aren’t everything. Get involved and meet cool new people. After all, college and even your future career will require you to be part of a community, whether it be big or small. What kind of contribution do you want to make to it?

Good luck, and happy prepping!

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