How to prepare for college: 9th – 12th grade

Getting ready for college can feel like a big challenge in high school, but it is something you need to think about early on.  The more college is discussed, the more it becomes part of a plan for your life in the future.  The steps for the college process will start as early as your freshman year in high school. Here’s how you can stay on track for college from freshman to senior year!

Freshman Year

• Decide on what kinds of classes to take: honors, dual credit, or regular courses.
• Start paying attention to grades. Grades are very important at this stage because they determine your class rank and admission to some schools is based on that.
• Think about what type of school you are looking to attend, and if you will need to start taking tests like the PSAT as soon as freshman year.
• Start exploring careers. Think about what kind of degree you need to get to do the jobs you are interested in.

Sophomore and Junior Years

• Visit college campuses that you are considering attending to get a feel for the campus. This gives you a chance to see what campus life is like, meet some people, and discuss what steps you need to take before arriving there as a student.
• Research local scholarships in your community and see what the requirements are to obtain these scholarships. Scholarships and organizations can be a way to help you in financing your college career.
• Study, sign up, and take the SAT and ACT tests your sophomore year. Most students take it more than once, so the earlier you can start, the better!

Senior Year

• Focus on deadlines for the schools you are most interested in.
• Submit applications by the deadlines, including applications for scholarships, housing, and financial aid.
• Gather documents like shot records and test scores to get those sent out to the schools of your choice.
• Begin filling out the FAFSA in October of your senior year. You want to do that as soon as possible so you can optimize the amount of financial aid you could potentially receive.
• Check-in periodically with the admissions office at your college of choice to make sure you are not missing any deadlines and have turned everything in. Once you have finished the admissions process you will start looking at attending orientation, deciding on which courses to take, and ordering textbooks for your first semester.

At TJC we are here to walk you through every step of this process.  We want to show you around our campus by taking a campus tour and getting further information through our admissions presentation.  New Student Orientation provides you the venue to meet current and other incoming students, meet with an advisor to select your classes, and acclimating yourself to our beautiful campus.  Wherever you are in your college journey, we hope that TJC is a place you consider calling home.