Too Early to Apply? What 9-11th Graders Can Do to Get Ready for College
We are deep into August, which means that high school seniors across the country are starting to work on their college applications. If we did a good job on the title of this blog, then you’re probably not a high school senior. We know how eager you may be to start applying to college, so don’t worry! Although your days (or months) of filling out the Common App may be years away, there are steps you can take now to prepare for your college journey.
Before you can figure out how to prepare, you have to know what USC is looking for! We (and many other schools) practice a holistic review, which means there is no formula for getting into USC. We consider academics, involvement, and written pieces altogether.
Academics
College is primarily an academic experience and we want to make sure the students that come to USC will be able to succeed in their classes. Academic success is determined by the grades you earn in academic coursework and rigor is all about taking challenging coursework that is available to you (i.e. IB, AP, or Dual Enrollment ). We are Test Optional, but we will consider things like AP/IB test scores and, SAT/ACT scores (but we are Test Optional if you choose to submit them. We also notice upward trends, so it’s ok if you struggle a bit when first starting high school!
Getting Involved
We want to see that students are involved outside of the classroom. This can look like a lot of different things! Sure, most people tend to lean towards school clubs and sports (which is awesome), but it’s much more than that. Maybe you work a part-time job, or have household responsibility like taking care of younger siblings, or a big part of a spiritual community! There are so many ways to be involved and we love to see it all. We want to see commitment and leadership. Commitment means being involved in activities throughout parts of your high school career and leadership can take more forms beyond winning a formal role in an organization.
Writing the Essay
You won’t be able to start working on your essay until your junior year. In your 9th and 10th grade years, you probably won’t even have had some of the experiences that you will end up writing about, and that’s normal! Probably the earliest you will start working on that piece is your 11th grade summer. We’ll focus mainly on academic and involvement steps you can take.
Let’s break down the steps you can take through your first 3 years of high school.
9th and 10th grade
Start to build strong study skills that set you up for classroom success!
Make sure to take classes that can set you up to take more challenging coursework (IB, AP, or Dual Enrollment coursework) later in high school.
Explore clubs and community organizations that you would be interested in joining! Try new things. It’s ok if your interests change after your freshman year.
Start to explore summer activities that can either help develop your academic or non-academic passions.
11th grade
Make sure to enroll in higher level coursework at your school
If you want to submit an ACT/SAT test scores to us, start to study for these tests and prepare to take your first
Become leaders in your activities, whether that is in a formal or informal role
Start to brainstorm topics that you would want to write your personal statement about
Get to know your teachers! It is highly likely that a teacher or counselor who got to know you in 11th grade will write you the best letter of recommendation
Start to make a list of your involvement throughout high school so you can have that handy when applications open.
Start building your college list! There are so many ways to explore colleges and you don’t have to go to every single place you are interested in applying to. Many schools offer virtual programming.
This is not an end-all be-all list of all the ways to prepare for college. If you are coming to this list in your junior year and missed out on some of the goals of the first two years that is totally fine! No one’s path is perfect and hopefully you can adjust these goals to your own personal preferences.
Written by: Alex Castro, Assistant Director - USC Office of Admission