It’s approaching late October and I feel for high school juniors. The seniors who are applying early are well into the application process by this point. Meanwhile, the juniors are well into their “dreaded” junior year as they say, which is hopefully not as bad as people make it out to be. Maybe it’s a little too early to do anything college related. Or maybe not. Juniors, as your senior classmates and counselors are working hard right now, you might be taking some mental notes, but there’s a lot more you can actually do a year ahead of your time. Here are some things to consider: 

Focus on classes, but not solely on grades

To be clear, I don’t want to deemphasize grades. Of course they are important, but I want to focus more on establishing your academic identity. Before college applications consume your life, make the most of your last “normal” year of high school. What classes are you enjoying right now and are they influencing your potential college major? Also keep in mind that at least one of your teacher recommendations should come from someone teaching a core subject this year. What you do think they would say? Are you engaged and active in class? The phrase “intellectual vitality” gets thrown around in admissions circles and you should think about how that is manifested in your academic life. 

Standardized test prep

This might be a given since many of you are prepping for exams right now, even without knowing exactly how relevant they will be a year from now. But until colleges universally employ a test-free policy, there’s no harm in at least going through the test-prep process and assessing your strengths and weaknesses. You might have classmates already signed up for a fall exam. So when should you take yours? When you’re ready. 

Reconsider your extracurricular involvement 

Maybe you tried to do a little of everything freshman and sophomore year and now you realize that it’s harder to do it all. More isn’t necessarily better in the college admissions world and that also applies to your normal life. If you really enjoy what you do, then you should absolutely keep doing it, consider any leadership opportunities within your activity, and also think about what is left to do and if there is anything you should do to ensure that things will run smoothly once you’re gone? If you have time, you might even want to look for similar opportunities where you can apply your knowledge and skill. If you feel like you are just going through the motions, are you really helping anyone else, let alone yourself? If you’re all set with your involvement, it might be a good idea to work on a résumé in case a college allows you to submit one or possibly for a college interview down the road.

Think about summer plans

What you do over the summer shouldn’t be influenced by what anyone else is doing. Colleges are well aware that students have various levels of access to different opportunities. So if you are worried that you do not have the internship your friend has, colleges know that many internships are not readily accessible. Neither are summer programs on a college campus, which do not necessarily carry any weight if you apply to the school where the program takes place anyway. You can do anything from taking a part-time job, enrolling in a local course, or just working on individual projects or family responsibilities. And if possible, you can always get a head start on applications.

Start researching colleges

College reps are still on the road right now visiting high schools and meeting with mostly seniors, but depending on your school’s policy, juniors may also be allowed to attend. When I worked in admissions, I actually really enjoyed meeting with juniors because I had an extra year to recruit them. You could also attend on and off campus receptions, college fairs, or just attend an online presentation. You have many ways to learn about colleges and because students tend to start with the schools they’ve heard of, you might as well get those out of the way and also learn about what college characteristics appeal to you. Maybe this will lead to a long initial college list. Good.

Apply for scholarships

Yes, even juniors can start applying for scholarships. As of mid-October, I saw 535 potential scholarships for juniors on the Big Future Collegeboard website. While the largest scholarships will come from colleges themselves, every little bit counts, especially if you start early. 

Juniors, you may feel like it’s not your time yet, but this is when the real work begins. It is slow at times, but reflection takes time and you will be much better off when the reality of college deadlines hits you next fall.