By Priscilla Rodarte
Staff Writer
Seis Castillo has narrowed down his college options. It’s USC, Notre Dame, or the University of Texas.
It’s not that he’s applied to these colleges. He’s just a junior, but said he knows he needs to start preparing now.
“I’m going to start visiting colleges next summer,” Castillo said. “Hopefully I’ll visit Notre Dame and the University of Texas.”
Castillo is an example of what many high school juniors are experiencing right now. While the seniors turn in their college applications, juniors are beginning to narrow down their choices and are determining what classes and activities they need to do in order for these schools to accept them.
“The most important thing juniors should be worried about is their grades,” said Mr. Michael Scott, Bishop Amat’s college counselor. “Academics are what colleges look at the most for juniors.”
Mr. Scott said Castillo is doing it right by not visiting colleges until this summer.
“Juniors should not really be worrying about visiting colleges until the second semester in the spring,” Mr. Scott said.
Still, Mr. Scott said, juniors should be busy preparing for college.
Students should first know what their options are according to their grades, and then they should figure out what to major in, he said.
Juniors should ask themselves if they want to go away for college, or if they want to stay local, he said.
And juniors should try their best on the PSAT. Those results could give the juniors a good idea of what to expect from the SAT. Students can also take an SAT prep course, like Tier 1, which only cost $100, Mr. Scott said.
He added that juniors should be doing extracurricular activities that they like and try to get leadership roles in clubs that they enjoy.
There are also many helpful websites, such as collegeboard.com or careercruising.com, which tell juniors what they should be doing at different times and update them by e-mailing them.
Students should also go into Mr. Scott’s office and get many handouts that are only directed to the juniors to help them prepare for college.
