Before thinking about college, students need to think about high school. You can learn all you want about the current admissions landscape, but given how quickly things change in this field, you must be careful not to look too far ahead. Instead, engage with your school community as much as possible, develop strong work habits and organizational skills, participate in class, and explore your academic and extracurricular interests as much as you can.

Sophomore year is tricky. Many students will take their first PSAT, which is essentially a practice test of a practice test. And that pretty much sums up what this year feels like—a holding pattern where the college process is looming, but you’re not quite there yet. Your focus should still be on high school, but it’s also an opportunity to assess your strengths and needs and how that may affect the rest of your high school experience and your transition to college.

It has been said that junior year is the new senior year. College applications tend to dominate the time of first-semester seniors, which then leads to the revelry of second-semester status. But for juniors, this will be the last full year of grades that colleges will consider, which hopefully helps your academic narrative. In many ways, the most critical aspects of the college process take place this year—an intensive and occasionally overwhelming combination of research, preparation, and light soul-searching.

College deadlines are universal, no matter how ready you are. And unfortunately, the process has become more accelerated, not to mention drawn out. Use the summer to get a head start if possible. If you attend a high school with an established college counseling program and timeline, you should do your best to meet their internal deadlines. You should also think about creating an individualized schedule to help you manage your responsibilities. It is inevitable that things will come up along the way, so it is critical that you focus only on what you can control.