It’s never too early to start planning for college. The activities and classes you take in 9th grade will affect your university applications and admissions rate. This is because different courses have different requirements and it is vital to start preparing for college applications as early as possible.
What are the opportunities that early preparation can take?
Easier to plan your own high school curriculum
The most important thing about going to college is to study what you are passionate about. The sooner you understand what you want, you earlier you can plan to learn more professional-related knowledge and skills.
For example, if you have decided you want to pursue the business path as early as grade nine, you can make a four-year high school curriculum plan and take compulsory business courses such as calculus, economics and statistics at the high school stage.
Of course, not all students know what major they want to choose in college in the ninth grade, that’s okay! Early preparation gives you enough time to explore your career path. In this case, when you create a high school curriculum plan, you can take your own hobbies as reference as much as possible. Make sure that the courses you plan to study are suitable for most of your favourite majors, so that you can explore where your interests lie in your studies. Think clearly about what you want to learn, and you can change your plan at any time.
Effectively plan for standardized tests required by certain universities
Although a lot of colleges now deem SAT tests as optional, there are still some colleges that require them. In order to apply for certain colleges, students need to complete the SAT or ACT tests. These tests require a lot of time to prepare, and it is impossible to get the results you want in a short time.
If you start thinking about college issues in the first year of high school and have enough time to arrange all the tests you need, you will be able to complete all the tests calmly even in the third year of high school, and you will not cram all preparations in the third year of high school. Once it’s time to apply for a university, you can focus all your attention on applying for the university instead of preparing for these exams.
Establish a strong extracurricular practice schedule
In US college applications, extracurricular activities weigh a lot in college application. Through the extracurricular activities that students participate in, admission officers will be able to know more about some basic qualities and abilities of students. As a freshman, admission officers hope to see leadership skills and related extracurricular activities as part of the portfolio.
In order to achieve these goals, high school freshmen start by joining a number of clubs with a wide range of interests, narrow down and select their favourites, and then strive to improve all aspects of themselves within the scope of their favourites.
In short, by exploring your interests in high school, you maximized various abilities and enriched your experiences.
When you are preparing to go to college in high school, full communication with your parents is necessary. Your parents not only support you financially, but they can provide you with some suggestions on your future path and interests. Starting college preparation from 9th grade is not only a wise choice, but also a stress-relieving choice.
