By: Magdalene Ko, News Editor
When we first enter high school, four years feels like a lifetime. It’s a new era of our lives, with more freedom, more classmates, and… the added stress of college on our shoulders. College can creep up on us, but as students, we must start preparing as soon as freshman year.
One of the main things to do is just evaluate yourself and your interests. If you’re unsure of your major, dream school it’s helpful to start to look into possible career paths as you go through high school. Paying attention to your interests and the things you enjoy doing as a Freshman is super insightful. Extracurriculars, especially clubs and electives, are a really helpful way to sort out your rank of interests.
There are a multitude of clubs offered at Mills, and they’re super helpful for honing and developing your hobbies. On top of simply doing something you enjoy, staying with a club for a long time, especially if you join club leadership, is a great way to show colleges you’re consistent. It’s also a great activity to add to your personal essays, and you can add a quick note that you’ve been a member for a long time. However, clubs aren’t all important, so don’t invest all of your time into clubs.
Electives are another great way to discover possible majors. Mills requires one VAPA and one CTE class, as well as one elective, which would be any class you take after you’ve fulfilled the minimum credit requirements. There’s no official requirement for when to take your electives, so you can take them when you think your workload is manageable. Everyone has their own elective path options, such as taking them as underclassmen so the next two years have less of a workload. It also provides an opportunity to double a subject later. I’ve found it helpful to take one elective each year as an underclassmen so my next two years are more free to take harder classes or double a subject. Some others lighten their freshman and sophomore years to make room for extracurriculars, but if all depends on the student.
Other than electives, there’s several different class paths you can take on your way to college applications. One such path is to deviate and take classes such as statistics or computer science. Depending on your strengths and interests, you might want to take a class like geometry between Freshman and Sophomore year to be on an accelerated path. The science track doesn’t have as many alternatives as math, but still has quite a few. One such change is taking AP Environmental Science (APES). Many students take this sophomore year so they can have one AP before the hard slew of junior year classes.
Of course, the SAT is a huge part of college applications. For now, UCs are test blind, but other colleges are either test-optional or still need an SAT score. If you want to take it, it’s helpful to start preparing the summer before junior year. Going through some College Board practice problems prepare you for the actual SAT even if you don’t constantly practice the entire thing. Being a junior can get hectic, so it’s nice to study at least a little so you’re more confident and aren’t as stressed.
If you’re unsure about what you need or what might help you the most, the school counselors are always ready to help. At the end of the year when you choose classes, you have to discuss why you chose the classes with your counselor, providing you with a wonderful opportunity to ask any questions you might have. Remember to check your emails constantly (even though there’s always a flood from canvas) for reminders and extra opportunities to participate in. There’s a lot of things to do to prepare for college, but hopefully, with early preparation your application process will be a breeze.
