Sophomore Year: Preparing for College

Being familiar with the college admissions process can take away some of the anxiety when it is time to start applying, as well as help students set goals to make their college application that much better. It also keeps you from forgetting important steps that need to be completed, or give you plenty of time to learn about something that you never even knew was needed.

Sophomore year is a good time to begin learning about the college admissions process, take a practice SAT or ACT, explore potential career interest through summer programs, take on new leadership roles at school, read, read, read, and practice your writing.

Once a practice ACT or SAT has been taken it will give students a good idea of what areas they struggle with. These are areas students can focus their study time on the most. Khan Academy has a completely free SAT prep program that takes the PSAT scores your child might have from College Board and uses them to set up a study schedule for your child that allows them to break up this process into easier to handle steps over a longer period of time instead of trying to cram for it all at once.

If your child is an athlete and thinks they may compete in college do not wait until the last minute to learn about the NCAA Eligibility Center to make sure the classes they are taking meet the requirements for NCAA Eligibility. The last thing you want to do is find out senior year your student's athlete did not complete enough credits to be eligible to compete in college but they do have enough to graduate. Checking on this sophomore year gives you time to make up any deficit you may have between your school's graduation requirements and NCAA Eligibility Requirements.

Please share and come back next week to learn about Junior year activities.