Junior year starts, and suddenly everyone is talking about college and university and what you think you might be when you grow up. It can feel like a lot all at once. On top of your classes, extracurriculars like sports and theater, and spending time with friends and family, it can be difficult to know what other tasks you might need to complete outside of the classroom to prepare for your future.

It’s September in your Senior year, and there are approximately one million tasks to complete this semester as you apply to college or university. This post will serve as your guide to navigate this semester (and hopefully help relieve some stress!).

September looks pretty different for every grade level when you consider how to prepare for your college application journey. Here are some guidelines and recommendations for each grade, and for seniors, an in-depth College Application Survival Guide is coming your way…

The short answer: Yes! (But you should only take each once, at least to start…)

The slightly longer answer: Colleges accept either test. They do not prefer one over the other, and you should send whichever one is stronger for you. So, the real question isn’t whether you can take both, but whether you should. 

I know we say this every time, but I genuinely can’t believe it’s the beginning of another school year. Jumping in and starting off right is often our intention: We order all the school supplies and organize our planners, but we don’t always keep up with the right rhythms because students often don’t really know what those rhythms should look like.

Preparing for the SAT or ACT might seem like something you’re supposed to do, but it’s also important to understand why, when, and how you should prepare for these tests. If you haven’t started studying, don’t worry. We are here to help you understand why prepping for the SAT or ACT is important, when you or your student should start studying, and how they can create a study plan that works for them.

Everyone has an opinion about which test you should take. Your best friend says the ACT is easier. Your cousin swears the SAT is what Ivy League schools want to see. Your school counselor tells you to pick the one you prefer and go for it (and they aren’t wrong… but keep reading to find out why and how).

And you, most likely, don’t want to take either one.

Most of us have known and experienced how mental and emotional health struggles can affect our everyday lives. The shared experience of a global pandemic has been traumatic in big and small ways, and honestly? We're not completely okay, nor will we ever be the same.

Juniors, 

The year is rapidly coming to a close, and Senior year is on the horizon. As you are thinking about the upcoming summer and year, we want to make sure we share some tips and tricks to help you feel more prepared for the college application journey. If you are hoping to go to university/college after high school, here are some tasks you can get done starting this semester. 

When I was in high school, my mom made me practice for the SAT and ACT on two separate occasions (in retrospect, thank you for making me do this mom, but at the time, I was not excited -- at all). The first time was my junior year during Spring Break as we visited colleges and universities in the southeast of the US. I would do an hour per day and I did not enjoy it at all. 

For many high school students this week, midterms are the first thing on their mind. Midterms are these daunting tests that often feel overwhelming and my students will normally ask: “How am I supposed to remember all of this information?” 

Exams, college applications, pressure to fit in, pressure to decide a career path, balancing school, friends, and work. The list goes on, but needless to say, high school brings its own unique set of challenges and stressors. Stress will always be a normal part of life. A healthy amount of stress can even be a good thing when it motivates us to meet a deadline or study more for an exam. However, I will be the first to admit that I give small stressors too much weight in my life, leaving me feeling drained and anxious.

Throughout my years as an academic coach, I have heard the response “I don’t know” to so many of my questions. What is the square root of 64? “I don’t know.” What is an example of figurative language? “I don’t know.” What did you learn in class today? “I don’t know.”

But what does a student mean when they say “I don’t know?”

I grew up in a country where learning was about competition and numbers. All I learned in school was how to pick the right answers before everyone else. I was taught to memorize as many vocabulary words as I could in the least amount of time. I plugged in numbers into formulas I did not understand, but always got the right answer. History was about memorization, not stories. Classes existed to prepare us for tests, not life.

In order to learn more, I began listening to more diverse speakers and reading more books. I ensured that who I spent time with reflected this pursuit of increasing my proximity, empathy, and understanding of differing perspectives.

As an education company, it could be easy to assume that we are only focused on what happens in the classroom, that we want the student to walk away with an “A” and that’s it — our work is done. However, we focus on so much more than that. Of course we love to see quantitative improvement in a student’s score, but we also love giving students opportunities to understand that school is simply an opportunity to grow and develop them for the future. But if we are being honest, it can be hard to see that sometimes.

I’ve always dreamt of being a confident person in every aspect of my life but never thought it was possible. However, living with the growth mindset for the past year has gradually changed my life. What other people say about who I am doesn’t affect what I believe about myself anymore…

I failed at my new quarantine goal for the week… but I can still grow from it. Growing up, when I failed to do something, I always felt overwhelmed with frustration. It took years to restructure this narrative. In fact, I’m still in the middle of that process…

None of this is easy as we are all experiencing a global pandemic for the first time. Regardless of your situation, we want to try and support you the best way we can and share some ways that we’ve prioritized our mental and physical health during this season. You can pick and choose what works for you, but here’s what has been working for me and a few of our coaches.

From the time I was in my upperclassman years in high school and throughout college, I was very often asked this dreaded question: What are you going to major in at college? It was a question that brought about anxiety and self-doubt. I had no idea. The pressure to have your entire educational and professional career planned out by the time you graduate high school is real. It’s easy to look around and see how everyone else (seemingly) has their life all figured out.