When you start 9th grade, college still seems like it’s an eternity away. But, as soon as you walk into your first class of freshman year, your path to getting into college starts. Yikes!! Every grade counts towards your GPA, and you have no excuse not to get involved with clubs or access resources your school has to offer. Getting started on building your specific area of academic interest (we usually call it your “niche” or “brand”) is really important, and starting now is what you need to do to get into a top-tier college.
What Classes Should You Take Freshman Year of High School?
When you’re just a freshman, you don’t really have a ton of options for different classes to take. You’ll probably have a history class, science, math, english - the typical stuff. But you might have opportunities to take advanced classes, and since colleges care about what you’ve been doing since Day One of high school, we think you should take them.
The Best Ways to Spend the Summer of Your Freshman Year
It’s finally over. The last ten months have been a whirlwind of new responsibilities and experiences, but now, you’re officially in high school now. With your freshman year behind you, you might think you have two months of rest and relaxation before classes start back up again. Wrong! Kinda! Like, you can relax, but you also need to explore some of your academic interests! It might seem early to think about college, but colleges care about what you’ve been doing since day 1 of freshman year.
9th Grade Summer Plans: Econ Major Edition
While a bunch of students freshman year are interested in the world of money, not everyone who wants to go into business has a passion for economics. Rather than learning about human resources or corporate administration, economists study the creation, consumption, and exchange of wealth in the form of currency, goods, and services. As a soft science, it combines an understanding of human behavior and history with mathematics, statistics, and accounting. In other words, an economist is more likely to make financial models that project the impact of a national recession on global markets than to make millions running a lemonade stand.
9th Grade Summer Plans: Political Science Major Edition
We hear from a lot of future political science majors early in high school. Maybe you’ve discovered your love of policy, diplomacy, and large-scale problem-solving by watching History Channel documentaries or dabbling in Model UN. Either way, the good news is that, as early as the summer after freshman year, you can start nurturing your poli-sci passion and building up your resume for a competitive edge on college applications.
9th Grade Summer Plans: Engineering Major Edition
Okay, freshmen, we hear you: you’re looking at the summer after ninth grade, and you can taste your freedom but it’s not exactly limitless. Let’s be honest — you have a curfew, you have chores, and most of you don’t have your driver’s permit. Heck, for all we know, you can’t ride a bike! (Hopefully, we’re wrong about that one, though).
9th Grade Summer Plans: Computer Science Major
Everyone thinks of summers spent in the great outdoors — and we sure hope you’re doing cannonballs into the lake and eating ice cream every night — but if you’re an aspiring computer science major you’re probably going to want to spend some quality time inside, too. Actually, scratch that — you can go frolic in a meadow if you bring your laptop and a hotspot with you.
Best Summer Ideas for 9th Grade
School’s out, you’re ready to lounge around the house and do nothing. But, if you’re here reading this blog, you’re probably an ambitious student with dreams of top-tier colleges. And students who want to go to top-tier colleges know they need to start preparing for the college admissions process now. We know summer is the time you don’t want to think about school, but thems the breaks, kid.
How to Develop Your Extracurriculars as a Freshman in High School
“I am only a 9th grader, are you sure I should be thinking about college? Seems premature.” It’s not. The college application process starts the moment you start freshman year. Every year of college matters on your application, plus the earlier you start building your niche, the deeper and more involved you can get. Starting to build out your extracurricular profile in your interest area as a freshman could be the thing that pushes you into admission at schools like Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
What Classes Should You Take Freshman Year of High School?
We sometimes start working with students as young as 9th grade, but we usually don’t enter the scene until after class selection for the 9th grade. Class selection is a big deal–a huge factor in admissions to top-tier colleges–and we help each and every one of our clients with this task.
Does Freshman Year of High School Matter?
Summer Ideas for Freshmen in High School
Summers are amazing. Not for beach vacations or road trips, although those are fun, but because it’s your largest chunk of uninterrupted time to explore any and all interests you might have. We know, you’re mad we’re telling you that you gotta do work during the summer. Too bad!! You have Ivy League aspirations, you can’t slack off!
What Not To Do Freshman Year Of High School
Freshman Year of High School Tips
What to Do the Summer Before Your Freshman Year of High School
While we know the pandemic has changed a lot for students, this is sure to be an exciting time in life. A lot of parents ask us if freshman year is too early to start thinking about college. After all, nobody wants to put undue pressure on young people who are just getting their footing in this next phase of life. That said, the college application process is a long journey. It can be challenging and there’s a lot to accomplish. Our strategy is to have kids spread out the workload across four years, not only to build a more robust application, but also to make it all more manageable. Here are some ideas on how to spend the summer before your freshman year.
Freshman Year of High School Tips
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.
How Important Is Freshman Year of High School to Colleges
Every year of high school is an important building block in the college process. That idea is hard for some to wrap their heads around—how can what you do at 14 impacts what happens with the college you’re heading to as a legal adult? While freshman year might not seem like the most important year, the reality is, freshman year is foundational and it’s still really important if you want to get into a top-notch school, particularly the Ivy League.
Creating Hobbies in Quarantine When You’re a Freshman in High School
Welcome to 2020. It’s an odd time. You’re stuck at home, learning and getting graded via Zoom or something similar, probably doing the dishes and way more chores than you’d anticipated, and you’re a freshman in high school. What a weird way to start off your high school experience, huh?! We’re right there with you.
What Classes Should I Take Freshman Year of High School?
We sometimes work with families as early as 9th grade, but oftentimes we don’t start working with them until after they’ve begun their freshman year. This means that they’ve already selected and started their classes. Class selection is a big task that we tackle with each and every one of our students, and because we often miss out on this process with 9th graders, we wanted to clue every rising freshman (and their parents, who we’re going to assume are reading this right now. Hi.) in on some considerations to have when you’re making your class selections.