Juniors: Don’t Ignore the Normal

Yes, things are abnormal right now. There are a lot of questions, and a lot of non-answers. However, there are normal tasks that can still be attended to.

1. Create your resume: Spring of junior year is a great time of year for students to begin making their activity resume. Not all colleges want a resume of a student’s activities, but there are quite a few that accept them, and it can help an applicant stand out. Find more information in these previous blog posts: Activity Resume, Balanced List
2. Do well in school: I’m not sure what school looks like for you right now. But regardless of if teachers will give P/F, or written evaluations, most likely some sort of a record of a student’s work, achievement and/or mastery will still be sent to colleges. It absolutely makes sense to still do your best work.
3. Ask for recommendations: This won’t apply to everyone because some high schools have made it clear that now is NOT the time to be asking teachers to write letters of recommendation for colleges. However, if no announcement has been made, than continue with the typical course of action, and ask one or two junior year teachers to write for you. You can learn more about which teacher(s) to ask and what makes a good recommendation letter in these previous blog posts: Teacher Recommendations, Good Recommendation Advice
4. Make summer plans: Summer camps, programs, even your planned summer job may be cancelled. But we still feel it’s important to do something over the summer. Perhaps you can find a way to volunteer, or take an online class, maybe even help elderly neighbors… there has to be something you can do. Colleges will want to see that you are spending this downtime doing something other than mastering video games. Our friends at Teenlife.com have a great directory of summer programs and may have new opportunities listed for this unique year.
5. Research colleges and narrow down your list: Colleges aren’t offering tours right now, of course, but there are plenty of online resources available for researching colleges. You can do online tours, and utilize college websites and other educational websites to learn more about particular schools and try to get a list sorted out. Your Campus Bound counselor can help you with this.
6. Get a jump start on your essay: If you are busy studying for IB or AP exams, or have a ton of school work to do, that should be the priority, but if you’re finding yourself with a lot of time on your hands, talk with your Campus Bound counselor about topic ideas for your college essay and perhaps even start a draft.

While there are some things that you can’t do right now, such as visit colleges and participate in sports and activities, there are plenty of other typical tasks you can still be working on. Please know we are here to help and aim to guide you as best as we can through these uncertain times. Stay well.