Any senior can tell you that Junior year is, without a doubt, the most challenging year of high school. You have to worry about SATs, state and district testing, APs, starting your college application process, getting volunteer hours, and more. Though it all may feel very overwhelming, you don’t have to struggle. This article is meant not only to help you survive your Junior year, but also to help you prepare for Senior year. These next two years will be challenging; following this advice can help make it easier.

First piece of advice: Take your first SAT before Junior year is over. Most high school students will take the SATs at some point or another. Although a lot of colleges are test-optional nowadays, you should still take the test at least once if you don’t plan on taking the ACTs. If you choose to, when you take your test can make a big difference. One of the best things about the SATs is that you can take them as many times as you want. Since Sophomores and Juniors take the PSATs in October, you should probably take your first real SAT about halfway through Junior year. December or January would be the perfect time for two reasons. One, you have enough time between the PSATs and the real test to study and improve your scores. Two, you have many more opportunities to take it again if you are unsatisfied with your scores. You’ll most likely end up taking the SATs more than once, so choosing to take your first one after Junior year has ended means that you’ll have a limited number of opportunities to retake it. By starting early, it’s possible to be completely done with taking the SATs before Junior year even ends, which is really nice once you start Senior year and the Common Application ends up taking all of your time.

Second piece of advice: Spread out your volunteering hours throughout the year rather than trying to cram them all in a few months. Although this advice applies to all South students, it is especially important for those who are interested in joining the National Honor Society. Eligible students are required to have at least 100 hours of volunteering logged by May. Ideally, you would start volunteering Freshman year and then spread out the remaining hours over the next few years, but few people manage to accomplish that. If you feel like you are behind and don’t have nearly enough hours yet, definitely start volunteering as soon as you can, and try to have at least one commitment per month. If you wait to start until March, you’ll end up overwhelmed with volunteer work. There are so many great opportunities in the Middletown area and even within the school, so it’s definitely possible to get you 100 hours before May. If you’re struggling to find something, turn to your guidance counselor; you can find out about events through their Google classrooms, or you can talk to them in person.

Third piece of advice: Write your college essay and set up the Common App before your Senior year starts. If you didn’t already know, the Common App is the application through which you’ll use to apply to colleges. It doesn’t officially open until August 1st, the summer before your senior year, but you should still get a head start. The section that students struggle with the most is the Personal Essay section. Many students will wait until after the Common App opens to start, with some even waiting until October. Though most colleges won’t require you to apply until January or later, Early Action and Early Decision will require you to apply much earlier– typically at the beginning of November. If you choose to apply either EA or ED, all sections of the Common Application must be completed, on top of the additional information the college will require from you. For this reason, it is to your advantage that you start earlier. This is especially because you will not want to start writing an essay once the school year starts. Despite the Common App opening in August, you can start writing your essay as soon as possible. You won’t know the exact writing prompts until the Common App opens, but they’re essentially the same every year, maybe with a minor variation. The essay can essentially be about whatever you want, but you will need to select a prompt once you start filling out the application, so I would try researching beforehand to help guide your essay. Once the Common App opens, get it fully set up before school starts. Like what I said about the essay, once school starts up again, you won’t feel like doing anything. You’ll have the entire month of August to set it up, and realistically, if you focus, you can have the entire thing done in about a week or two. Save yourself the stress of setting everything up after school starts, and get the Common App filled out before September.

Fourth piece of advice: Use your college visit days. Juniors and Seniors are allotted 3 days of excused absences to visit colleges. If you are unsure of where you want to go or even what you’re looking for in a college, definitely be sure to use those days. You can still visit most colleges over the weekend, and many of them will have open house events outside of school hours, but it helps to go during a school day, so you can see what the campus looks like while students are there. These excused absence days are especially helpful to students who are interested in out-of-state schools that may require you to drive for several hours or even fly. This way, you can go over the weekend and have extra time for traveling. Visiting colleges is the best way to figure out what you like and don’t like. Once you have an idea of what you’re looking for, you can really narrow down your search and create a solid list of colleges you’re interested in. Although you’ll have more days to visit colleges in your Senior year, it’s smart to save at least one or two of those until after you’ve been accepted to help you make your decision.
At the end of the day, you should do what works best for you, but don’t feel like you have to struggle if everything starts getting overwhelming. Just know that your teachers, counselor, and family will be there to help you every step of the way.