Here is some advice/things I wish I would have done as an underclassmen. Remember, each person is different, this is just what I wish I would have done. So take all of this with a grain of salt.
Things I think would help set you up well for the college app process:
-dedicate yourself to 2-3 things that you are actually passionate about. Colleges can easily see what is “fluff” and what you actually care about. Remember, they read thousands of applications! And to those who are shooting for top 20 schools: top 20 schools want a well-rounded class, NOT a well-rounded student. If a college can get a world-class musician, published researcher, star athlete, published author, entrepreneur, etc, then they will have a well-rounded class composed of unique/“pointy” students. Be pointy, don’t be well-rounded. Do good in everything, but then excel in just one or two things that you are really passionate about.
-get all of your SAT testing done during Junior year. Actually study for your tests and take them during the spring of your junior year. If you really need to test a 2nd/3rd time, then you have enough time to study over the summer and take the tests in August. But I recommend getting your testing done as early as possible (and when you’re ready/have studied enough) because you don’t want to split your valuable time during fall of senior year on SAT prep and college app essays. Trust me on this, because I made this mistake and I have to do that right now. RIP.
-take hard classes if you can and if you think you can do good in them. Colleges want to see that you are challenging yourself.
-put together an academic resume ASAP. Track what activities you do, the hours you put into them, and a brief description of each activity. This will be soooo helpful during senior year when you have to fill out the “Activities” section of applications. You won’t have to think hard and remember what you did freshman year if you just keep a running list instead.
-build genuine relationships with your counselor and teachers! This is something that I really wish I did. When you ask for recommendations during your senior year, you don’t want to feel like your recommenders don’t know you well enough. Answer questions in class, be kind to other students, be brave, ask your teacher how their day has been, etc. But be genuine about it!
-visit some colleges during junior year and the summer before senior year. This is a great time to do so because you might find that you’re too busy to do so during senior year. When visiting colleges, take notes of things that you liked/didn’t like, or interesting things about the school that you can talk about in your supplemental essays (like “why are you applying to College X” questions).
-start on college essays over the summer. I know it’s hard, but even just brainstorming topics that you could write about will put you that much farther ahead and make you that much less stressed during senior year.
-if you’re a first gen student or a minority of some kind, look for scholarships or ask your counselor if s/he knows of any helpful resources for you. I wish I would have done this; my counselor says that if I had told her sooner, she could have helped me find a whole bunch of opportunities. I missed out on scholarships and even free college visit trips which were sponsored by minority/first gen organizations.
-talk to your parents about budgeting for junior/senior years. If you’re going to be taking AP/dual credit/IB/SAT/ACT, think about HOW MUCH MONEY THAT IS. For me, if I include all of my testing and college applications, it is easily over $1000. Talk to your parents so they can help you plan ahead of time on how to structure their budget. Trust me, they’ll be grateful that you are trying to help them help you by telling them how much the whole college application costs. Plus, if you throw in costs for senior pictures, senior graduation parties, prom, etc., you could easily be in the $2000 range.
-you will definitely have to do more research on this topic, but prepare yourself for the FAFSA during your freshman or sophomore year of high school. There are so many resources out there that tell you how you should do your taxes, etc so that you can get the most financial aid. And this is all legal, it’s just being smart about how you spend/save money during the year that the FAFSA wants information on.
If anyone wants to add to this short advice list, I encourage you to reply below! I hope this was helpful to some.