If you like a lot of different topics – English, science, math, history – you might enjoy psychology! It’s a super interdisciplinary field of study that allows students to blend lots of topics together to better understand ~people~ and ~brains~ which is pretty cool. If you’re here, we’re guessing two things: you’re maybe interested in psychology for college, and you’re probably a freshman.
“Isn’t freshman year too early to think about college?” In some ways, yes. In some other ways, absolutely not. Freshman year does matter to colleges, and you shouldn’t be doing nothing with your time, but you’re also adjusting to high school! When we work with freshmen, our main focus is on helping them plan their summers, but we also give some guidance on how to explore their interests so that when we start sophomore year, we can hit the ground running.
Explore What You’re Interested In
You can’t know you like something until you, well, learn stuff about it. By the end of high school, we want our students to have a niche, because it’s not enough to just say “psychology,” on an application and call it a day. We want to take our students from something big and broad and take them to super narrow topics like “operant conditioning in children” (is that even ethical??), but those niche topics don’t happen overnight.
When we talk to freshmen and their families, we want to stress that this time is great for exploration. The best way to start learning about psychology, especially if you think you want to major in it in school, is by crackin’ open some books and loggin’ into some online classes. Students who are self-motivated and passionate about their topics who do a lot of this exploration in their 9th-grade year find themselves way ahead of the curve when it comes to applications down the line. By having a more narrow idea of your interests when you come into your sophomore year (think, developmental psych or neuropsych), you’ll be able to dive into the hands-on stuff that makes your application stand out.
Do Well in School
If you want to go to a great college to study psychology, you need to do well in school! This is kind of a “duh,” we know, but it’s important to stress it. A lot of people are under the impression that freshman year doesn’t matter much to colleges, and this could not be further from the truth. Top-tier schools want to see students getting the best possible grades in the hardest classes available to them, starting the moment they step into high school.
Speaking of classes, you should also make sure you’re taking the right classes for you and your interests. When we help students plan their summers, we also help them with class selection for the next year and develop an overall strategy for the courses they’ll take throughout high school. If you’re interested in psych, a lot of schools do offer psychology courses, but you also might want to get creative with it. If you know you’re more interested in neuropsychology and drug research, you might want to optimize your academic track to feature some advanced chemistry classes!
Extracurriculars
It’s one thing to say you’re interested in psychology, and another to have evidence of being interested in psychology. That’s where extracurriculars come into play. It’s important to have meaningful activities throughout your high school career on your resume that point to your interest in psychology, so let’s do a lil’ thought experiment and compare two fictional students and their activities:
Student A: Debate Captain (9-12), Lacrosse Captain (9-12), Various Community Service (9-12), Psych Club Member (11-12), Summer Job at a Restaurant (10-12)
Student B: Chem Club (9-12), Psych Club Founder (9-12), Independent Psych Project (11-12), Summer Job at Psychiatrist Office (10-12), Research with Psych Professor (12)
Which one do you think screams “I love psychology” to an admissions office? Student B! It’s not that Student A is unimpressive or lacking in drive, it’s that their activities are unfocused on their end goal. When choosing your activities, you should prioritize things that show your interest in a topic and allow you to actually explore your interest! If you like a few other things besides psychology, you should explore those too!
Summer Plans
This is going to be the most important part for you, our dear freshmen. The summer between freshman and sophomore year is when you’re really going to dive into your interests and do some meaningful, hands-on stuff. We know summer has traditionally been for lazing around (we love a trip to the pool, too), but this is one of your few uninterrupted blocks of time to get stuff done.
Summer planning is the major headline of what we help freshmen do. For freshmen, we typically advise pursing summer programs. Summer programs are great because they provide a structured curriculum, often on a college campus, designed to guide you through a wide variety of psych topics. Some schools, like Harvard, Columbia, or Brown, offer a lot of different summer classes on psychology, which can help you learn more about your potential niche. We get to know our students one-on-one, figure out some of their interests, and help find them summer opportunities they’re excited about. We then help them work on the applications for their programs, ask teachers for rec letters, and help figure out the right schedule for the summer.
Freshman year is not too early to plan for college! We think it’s great to have an idea of what you want to do early on in your high school career, so you have more than enough time to explore it fully.
Freshmen, if you want to start strategizing for college, or just need help planning your summer, reach out to us today.