The 1-2-3 College Admissions Plan
College admissions can make high school feel like one enormous four-year checklist. Take the hardest classes. Join clubs. Volunteer. Study for the SAT or ACT. Visit colleges. Find leadership positions. Write essays. Ask for recommendations.
But you don't need to do everything at once. In fact, trying to do too much too early can turn high school into a four-year college admissions exercise, which isn't particularly good for students and doesn't necessarily produce better applications.
A better approach is to focus on the right things at the right time. Here's our simple 1-2-3 plan: one thing freshman year, two things sophomore year, and three things junior year.
Freshman Year: Do 1 Thing
1. Try new things.
Freshman year should be about exploration, not application building. Join the robotics team. Audition for the musical. Try Model UN. Take a coding class. Write for the newspaper. Volunteer somewhere. Make a film. Start playing a sport. Learn an instrument. Get involved with something that sounds interesting even if you aren't sure you'll be good at it.
In fact, we'd challenge every freshman to try at least three things they've never done before.
And it's perfectly fine if two of them don't stick. The objective isn't to accumulate activities for a future resume. It's to gather information about yourself. What are you good at? What do you enjoy? What kinds of people do you like spending time with? What makes you curious? What are you willing to work hard at even when nobody is giving you a grade? What are you good at?
By the end of freshman year, you don't need a college list, a prospective major, or a five-year plan. But it would be great to have discovered something that makes you think, "I'd like to do more of that."
Sophomore Year: Do 2 Things
1. Dive deeper into one meaningful thing you discovered freshman year.
Once you've found an interest, don't immediately go looking for two more. Ask yourself: What's the next level?
If you discovered that you love computer science, build an app, create a website, or contribute to an open-source project. If you love theater, audition for a more challenging production, direct a scene, write a play, or explore lighting and set design. If you're fascinated with biology, pursue a summer course, research project, or volunteer opportunity that gets you closer to the subject. If you love entrepreneurship, try selling something instead of just joining the entrepreneurship club.
Colleges are looking for students who become interested in things and then pursue those interests with energy and initiative.
Sophomore year is a great time to begin making that transition from "I'm interested in this" to "Here's what I've done with that interest." Start a Google Doc and record what you’ve done; this will be very useful when you start applying senior year.
2. Visit three very different colleges.
You don't need a college list sophomore year. But this is a great time to start figuring out what different kinds of colleges actually feel like.
Visit a large university and a small liberal arts college. Walk around an urban campus and a rural or suburban one. See a school where Division I sports are a major part of campus life and one where they're barely noticeable. Experience a college with a traditional enclosed campus and another that's integrated into a city. Learn a little about Greek life, residential colleges, research universities and undergraduate-focused institutions.
Look for schools within driving distance for this research. The point isn't to decide whether you want to attend any of these particular schools. It's to develop the vocabulary of college fit.
It's hard for a 15-year-old to answer, "Do you want a school with 3,000 students or 30,000?" if they've never experienced either. After visiting a few dramatically different campuses, students start having reactions: This feels too big. I love being in a city. I want big-time sports. I don't care about football. This feels isolated. I like having a real campus.
Those reactions will make building an actual college list much easier a year later. Get our free College Visit Workbook here once you start doing tours to help you organize your thoughts.
Junior Year: Do 3 Things
Junior year is when the process becomes more concrete. You've spent two years learning about yourself and beginning to understand colleges. Now it's time to prepare to apply.
1. Take the SAT or ACT.
Start with full-length diagnostic SAT and ACT exams to determine which test better fits your strengths. Then create a preparation and testing schedule rather than repeatedly taking both tests and hoping for the best.
Your target score shouldn't be an arbitrary number. Look at the typical ranges at colleges you may eventually consider and decide how much time and effort testing warrants. Even with test-optional policies at many colleges, a strong score can still be an important part of an application and can help with scholarships or merit aid.
Whenever possible, try to complete standardized testing during junior year. Senior fall is busy enough without simultaneously preparing for the SAT or ACT, writing essays, completing applications, and managing a demanding senior course load.
2. Build your college list.
Remember those sophomore-year visits? Now they're useful.
Instead of starting with rankings or asking, "What's the best college I can get into?", begin with what you've learned about yourself. Maybe you discovered that you want a medium-sized university near a city with strong school spirit. Maybe you want a small college where professors know your name. Maybe access to research matters. Maybe you want serious theater without pursuing a BFA. Maybe you know you want engineering but also want the flexibility to study music.
Now start identifying actual colleges that match those priorities. Research academics, majors, campus culture, admissions selectivity, cost, financial aid, location, and outcomes. Visit serious contenders when possible and begin assembling a balanced list that includes likely, target, and reach schools.
This is also the time to start thinking strategically about Early Decision, Early Action, and other application options. By the end of junior year, your list doesn't necessarily need to be final, but it should be taking shape.
3. Start your applications.
One of the best ways to make senior year less stressful is surprisingly simple: don't wait until senior year to start applying to college.
Before junior year ends, students can already do a tremendous amount. Build a resume and activities list. Think carefully about how you'll describe your most important experiences. Ask teachers for recommendations before everyone disappears for the summer (preferably by March or April of your junior year). Research the application requirements for the schools you're considering. Understand Early Decision and Early Action deadlines. Start thinking about the experiences, relationships, and ideas that might become a personal statement.
Then use the summer before senior year to do the heavy lifting on essays and applications.
The goal should be to enter senior year finishing applications rather than starting them. That leaves more time to focus on senior classes, enjoy your final year of high school, and make thoughtful application decisions rather than racing against deadlines.
A Simpler Way to Think About College Admissions
There’s a reason college lists are getting longer each year: students often start searching for colleges before they’ve spent enough time figuring out their “why” and understanding who they are and what they actually want from their college experience. We often see college lists built with a “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach. Freshman year should be about discovering things. Sophomore year should be about developing those interests and beginning to understand the choices ahead. Junior year is when it's time to get serious about the mechanics of applying. It’s important that the student approaches each year with intention.
High school shouldn't be about manufacturing the person you think colleges want. It should be about discovering what interests you, doing something meaningful with those interests, and eventually finding colleges where you can keep developing them.
You don’t need to do everything. You just need to know what matters when. A college counselor can help you or your student focus on the right priorities at each stage of high school, so they can build a thoughtful path to college without letting the stress over admissions take over the experience. We’d love to talk to you about how we can help. Schedule a consultation with a Mentor Admissions advisor here.