College Prep Timeline - 10th Grade

TENTH GRADE (See separate posts for middle school, ninth and eleventh grades)

Academics

• Do your best. If you are interested in highly-selective colleges, you’ll want to challenge yourself with rigorous classes, but no college is worth sacrificing your wellbeing. 

• Continue to build strong time management strategies and study skills. Try different systems, strategies and approaches until you find what works best for you. Start longer term projects when they are assigned, not due. Experiment with the Pomodoro method. Try creating your own flashcards for studying. Consider executive functioning coaching if this continues to be an area of weakness.

• Keep reading. Becoming a fast reader with good comprehension will serve you well in college. It can also be a very pleasurable lifetime habit that even improves your writing.

• Advocate for yourself. The more comfortable you are talking to instructors, the more you will get out of college later, too. If you suspect you might have a thinking or learning difference that might require accommodations, now’s the time to pursue a diagnosis, documentation, and accommodations if you haven’t already. You’ll need this documentation to pursue getting accommodations for the PSAT, SAT and/or ACT, too.

• Standardized Tests: In the spring, take a timed practice test of each test: The SAT and the ACT. Compare scores before choosing which test to prioritize for test prep, assuming you are applying to colleges that prefer or require scores. Consider consulting with an expert to devise the right testing strategy, timeline, and plan depending on your practice test scores and high school curriculum.

Extracurriculars

• Activities: Start to narrow your focus to 2-3 areas that interest you the most. 

• How can you pursue these areas more deeply, have a greater impact, or gain recognition for your work? 

• Are there interesting ways of combining your areas of interest? 

• Do you have special skills that could be applied? 

• How might you take advantage of the summer months to take things even further?

• Is there a special project you might undertake alone or with others?

• Self reflection: The following questions can help you start to narrow your focus. They can also help you start to think about your future major and/or even career plans.

• What brings me joy outside the classroom? 

• What kinds of things do I want to build or create?

• What types of problems do I want to help solve?

• What topics spark my curiosity?

• What skills do I love applying?

Personal

• Self-care: Continue to prioritize sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Identify the stress-reducing activities that work best for you and make them an established habit by the end of sophomore year. 

• Independence: If you haven’t already, start mastering basics like laundry, keeping your room tidy, cooking basics, and managing money. (This is a great time to start earning money, too.)

College Planning

• College tours: Start visiting different kinds of colleges near home (big/small, urban/suburban/rural, private/public, etc.) and start making note of preferences.

• Budgeting: Determine how much your family can realistically afford to pay for college.

• Financial Aid: 

• Start running the Net Price Calculator (NPC) on different colleges’ websites to get a sense of whether you might qualify for financial aid and how much you might be expected to pay.

• If your family has been saving money to remodel your kitchen or fix your roof, now’s the time to get those done. You’ll be expected to spend that money on college if it is still sitting around in a savings account next year.

• Note that financial aid is based on your income two years before college enrollment (“prior prior year”) and your assets on the day the forms are filled out.

• College Counseling: If you think you might want to hire an independent educational consultant to help with college advising, now is the time to find someone if you haven’t already.

Recommended reading for families

• Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be by Frank Bruni

• Who Gets in and Why by Jeff Selingo