It might feel a little nuts to start thinking about where you’d like to go to college as a sophomore. After all, it probably feels (in some ways) like freshman year was just yesterday! But it’s not all that farfetched to get going on your college strategy. College has never been more competitive, with top-tier schools across the nation edging into the single digits of admission rates. We advise our students to develop a solid plan at the beginning of high school to make the arduous application process a bit more manageable.
Build Your Stats
When looking at colleges, it’s important to note their average ranges for admissions and compare them against your own stats (test scores and GPA). We know you probably haven’t taken an SAT or ACT just yet. We often advise our students to begin test prep sophomore year. You should take a practice test to know where you stand at the outset. Note these numbers when looking at schools so you know what you’ll need to make on standardized testing to be considered a qualified candidate at the schools you think you like. This should ultimately serve as your goal during the test-taking process.
Area of Expertise
With college admissions being so competitive, our strongest piece of advice to students is to develop an academic area of expertise throughout high school. Universities are looking for to build classes of freshmen who will go on to become the top performers in their niche professions and ultimately enhance the university’s clout and endowment. What they aren’t looking for is a bunch of undecided students with decent test scores. We recommend focusing on specific programs at schools that are a natural extension of the area of expertise you’ve been developing in high school. We know, it might sound like we’re advising you to pick your college major as a high school sophomore. But we sort of are…
Don’t worry, it’s important to understand that targeting a specific major and writing about that in your application does not bind you to it in the vast majority of cases!! You can actually declare an undecided major once you get in if you so desire.
So, first and foremost, think about what academic area of expertise makes sense for you. What are you passionate about academically? Science is far too broad. Environmental Biology is a more specific and better path. We recommend starting off the list process by identifying your own academic area of expertise and then researching the programs in the country that best align with this.
Vibe
The culture of the college is just as important (if not more important) than the straight-up academics. Sophomores should start thinking about what it is they’re looking for in a university. It might help to ask yourself the following questions: cold weather or warm weather? Big school or small school? Greek life, sports, quidditch? A plane ride from home or a drive from home? Getting to know what kind of personality you’re looking for in a school is really critical. Once you’ve established your criteria, it’s time to start looking to see which schools fit culturally AND offer what you’re interested in academically.
Reaches, Targets, Safeties
When building your college list, it’s important to have a balance between reaches, targets, and safeties. Target schools are where you fall into the target range on test scores and GPA. Reaches are where you are slightly below average in the accepted range, and safeties are where you’re on the highest end of the accepted range. You should have 2-3 of each category on your list. This list might change as you continue with (and ultimately take) your standardized test.
When building out a preliminary college list sophomore year, you should keep in mind that you might need to adapt your list. Once you start tours, you might decide you actually want a big school after visiting a small liberal arts school. You might surprise yourself and get a perfect score on the ACT, therefore adding in some more reach schools. Consider this a jumping-off point that will help guide you through the application process for the next few years.
Need help with a college list? Call us. We’re experts at helping students find their perfect fit school.