10th Grade College Planning Checklist
"Nothing counts until junior year"
A sophomore hears this from an older cousin, and it sounds reasonable. He keeps his grades up and goes to his clubs when he feels like it.
In January he finds a summer research program that looks perfect. Applications closed in December.
Nothing went badly wrong. He lost one opportunity, and he lost it because nobody had told him that some of sophomore year's deadlines come before sophomore year feels serious.
What 10th grade is for
Sophomore year is when patterns start to show. Some colleges begin their close reading of grades here: Stanford says it focuses on grades 10 and 11 along with the final year.
The same goes for activities. Stanford notes that deep experience in one or two can show more than light participation in five or six. Tenth grade is when a student stops sampling and starts staying.
What to do, season by season
Fall: choose what stays.
Go through last year's activities and keep the ones the student would miss if they stopped. In one of them, take on a piece of real work, such as organizing the next competition or looking after the budget. Look up the application dates for summer programs now, because some close months before summer begins.
Winter: take a first look at testing.
Send any summer applications. Sit one timed practice SAT and one timed practice ACT on separate weekends, with no preparation, to see which format suits the student. If the student has an idea of their own, try it at the smallest scale for a month and see whether it holds their interest.
Spring: choose with a direction.
Ask which two subjects and which two activities the student would keep if they could only keep two of each. The answer points somewhere, even loosely, and it can change later. Let it guide the choice of 11th grade courses, which should stretch the student without pulling grades down.
Summer: make it count.
Paid work, a course the school doesn't offer, a project of the student's own or a program all serve well. What matters is that the student can say afterwards what they did and what changed. Keep photos and a few notes, because the essays written two years later draw on them.
Five common mistakes
- CoastingNothing is due this year, so the year can pass without anything moving forward.
- Starting new things instead of going furtherA second year in the same activity, with more responsibility, shows more than a new club.
- Collecting positionsA title with no work behind it adds little. One thing the student actually organized adds a lot.
- Looking at summer in the springBy then several application dates have passed.
- Heavy test prepA practice test is enough this year. Months of drilling can wait.
The checklist
- Activities narrowed to the ones worth keeping, with a real piece of work in one
- Grades steady or rising
- Summer application dates written down in the fall
- One timed practice SAT and one timed practice ACT
- A first sense of direction, however loose
- 11th grade courses chosen with that direction in mind
- Photos and notes from the summer
How Pursiva helps in 10th grade
Pursiva turns sophomore year into a plan with dates. Its Activities module suggests how to go deeper in the activities a student already has, its SAT coach starts with a diagnostic to show where they stand on the SAT, and Pursiva reminds the family of what is coming before it is due. As the year's evidence builds up, it helps the student name a direction and use it to choose next year's courses.
A sophomore who knows what the year is for has an easy time of it. Most of the work is noticing a few dates early.
Sources
Know what is coming before it is due.
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