We’ve written before about the three things that you can do as a 9th grader to prepare for college: read, discover your interests, and maybe take an SAT II. While these are all true, we wanted to expand a bit upon what 9th grade really means within the context of your college application and perhaps reframe your thinking on your freshman year.

Most students tend to approach 9th grade as essentially an extension of 8th grade. As in, they know that college is looming, but they feel it doesn’t matter quite yet. In our book, 9th grade matters just as much as 11th grade. Here’s why:

Colleges see these grades AND they impact your GPA, which is a central determining factor in whether or not you are accepted or rejected. Receiving a B your freshman year has exactly the same effect on your GPA as if you get a B your junior year. But if you’re trying to go to Stanford you’re going to want your GPA to be as high as possible. Bottom line: don’t fall for the narrative that junior grades matter most. Every individual grade that you receive in every individual class starting the moment you begin 9th grade matters most.
Over 30,000 kids applied to Yale last year. Do you think that more than the ~2,000 students who were accepted were qualified for acceptance but received rejections? Yeah, you’re probably right. But ultimately, only just above 2K students were extended offers of admission and you better bet that they all had straight As and out-of-the-park extracurricular activities, even in 9th grade. You might think that you’re the one in a million who can get into Yale with a B+ but let us tell you this: you’re not. Your grades matter.

We don’t mean to scare you. Well, not completely. At least not into complacency. There are things that you can do to prevent your dreams from crumbling down. In fact, there are tons of things that you can do to ensure success. We can’t ensure you will be admitted to Yale, but we can ensure success on being admitted to a college that you love.

Here is what you can be doing with your time as a 9th grader:

If you want to get into a top-tier school, take the most rigorous course load that you can handle. Schools care most about admitting students who show motivation, initiative, and who challenge themselves. We’ve said this before, but between these two options…is it better to get an A in a non-honors course or a B in an honors course? The answer is always, get an A in the honors course. Do what you need to do to ensure that grade: get tutoring, do extra credit, delete your social media so that you’re not distracted (we’re so serious on this), whatever it takes. Do it.
Get As. See above.
Join or create your ideal extracurricular activities and take on a leadership position, even if it’s small. Join or create something that you will want to continue to do for the next four years. Take it seriously. Don’t join 7. Join 2-3 at MOST. Preferably, start your own. Our only caveat is sports. Don’t join a sports team. We know it sucks, but sports are a huge time suck and they don’t look good to colleges unless you are talented enough to get recruited. They just take time away from a substantial activity that you could be doing.
Take tests. Whether they’re practice tests at the beginning of the year or real SAT Subject Tests at the end of the year, get going on your testing as early as possible. We tell kids to take SAT Subject Tests immediately after having completed a course in school, so if you can take Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or what have you after your freshman year, then do. Get it out of the way. It’s just one less thing (on a very long list of to-do items) to do later on. Our most successful students like to get ahead. We highly recommend doing just that.

Freshman year often gets overlooked as a transition year. We’re here to tell you that it is a very real part of the college admission process and that you should take it seriously.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us. We’re here to help you get organized, stay on track, and figure out your path.