When it comes to college prep, all of the conversations often seem to revolve around junior year. It’s the year when students start visiting colleges, taking their standardized tests, and seeing their friends who are seniors get stressed out every fall and then experience the thrill of getting into their schools of choice throughout the year. What we want to emphasize here, though, is the importance of sophomore year. Yes, the year after freshman year and before the Big. Daunting. Junior. Year. Begins. While every year is important, sophomore year often gets lost in the mix.
Every year is important in high school. Each year is a part of the foundation of the college application pyramid because colleges will see every single class is on your transcript. So don’t fall into the trap of, “I can skate by and then start to care junior year.” If you do that, it’ll be too late. So, why is sophomore year specifically important? Think of sophomore year as a gift: you adjusted to high school during freshman year, you explored some interests, joined some clubs, but you don’t have the burden of testing and college tours quite yet. As a result, it’s the year that most of our clients tend to spend defining and refining their interests through compelling projects, intensive research, reading, and online courses. Then by junior year, they’re ready to take on leadership positions in their extracurricular activities and are set up for success to take over the world. Or at least their high school newspaper or debate team.
CASE STUDY:
Take Scott. He was our student a couple of years ago. He left middle school unsure of his path but knew that he was seriously interested in the humanities. Specifically, creative writing, art, and journalism. He joined the following clubs during his freshman year: Creative Writing Club, Poetry Club, the soccer team, the school newspaper as an assistant reporter, the literary journal, and he read four books (not assigned by school) throughout the year. He liked them all but was really able to sink his teeth into the interviews that he had begun to do for the school newspaper. He was gaining traction interviewing various librarians in the region in an effort to promote local literacy programs.
Before and throughout sophomore year, we helped him trim the fat. He dropped Creative Writing and Poetry clubs to focus his energy on the newspaper and literary magazines. He was promoted to reporter and opinion section editor (no longer assistant) and spent his free time bolstering an independent project that he had begun doodling over the summer: a Maus-esque cartoon series chronicling the great migration (one of his four books freshman year was The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, which struck a chord).
Throughout sophomore, junior year, and into senior year, he delved deeper into this cartoon series, publishing occasional excerpts in the Arts section of the newspaper and literary magazine while compiling a full novel-length series of illustrations and stories. He continued reading books specifically exploring the use of redlining and gerrymandering to oppress non-white people financially and politically. He rose to become Editor-in-Chief of his school newspaper, and remained editor of the literary magazine throughout the rest of his time in high school, helping to change the name and the purpose to be distinctly social justice-oriented (proceeds of the magazine were donated to local literacy programs) He got into his first choice, Wash U. St. Louis.
When you look at Scott’s experience, it’s tempting to focus on the outcome and the list of “stuff.” But what we are interested in is the inflection point that was sophomore year. He spent his time freshman year exploring and casting a wide net. He then used sophomore year to drill down his extracurricular schedule to the essentials directly related to his area of interest: creative expressions that promoted access to literacy, politics, and journalism. If the activity did not fit into this theme, it was cut. And he paid attention to and nurtured a long-term independent project that tied all of these passions and interests together.
Let us know if you need some guidance sorting your interests out-- we know it can be overwhelming, but we’re here to help.