Underclassmen Think About College

Seniors are getting ready to leave, juniors are ready to take over T.C., and sophomores are thinking about their two more years in high school. But there is more they should be thinking about and putting thought into the college process. It seems that many students aren’t driven to start thinking about College until their senior year. Some students struggle to get those few AP classes in their senior year schedules, while others don’t have any idea what the SAT is or how to register for it. Most underclassmen don’t realize how important their sophomore or junior year is, but how can they be informed about the college process?

The college process is very stressful and some things have to be done ahead of time. Some students have to take the SAT their junior year so they get used to it and do better the next time. Also students should think about what colleges they might want to go to or what they want to major in. Some suggestions T.C. to aid this process are to have a peer mentor or upper classmen speaking with the underclassmen.
This year students are lucky to have The College and Career Center to help out with the load of work they have to go through. The College and Career Center is here to help students get through what ever it is they have to do. “The problem is getting the students to come to the center,” said Mrs. Braun from the center. Some students don’t know what the center is or when it is open. She continues on saying “There should be consistency in getting kids into the center.” One option in improving this problem is having face to face talk with students and being in places where they face their comfort zones. Maybe walking up to students in the lunch room and pulling them to the center can be more relating to them.
Having seniors talk to underclassmen can be very thoughtful and productive. This may get more students to listen to someone their age rather than an authority figure. “I would pay more attention to someone from college rather than a teacher talking to me because they are closer to my age group,” said senior Dagmawit Haile. Seeing students’ reactions shows that this will get more students to the Career Center and paying more attention to college. “Well I kind of think about college but if I get more motivation it would make me more concentrated,” says sophomore Jennifer Zhu.

More concentration, hard work, and help can get underclassmen ready and off to college. With more peer mentors and upper classmen helping there can be more productivity. Also there should be more clubs that can make students get involved in the college process. “We should have students join after school clubs that have to do with the college process, I know I would do it,” said junior Jennifer Aruajo. With all this in mind juniors and sophomores should be getting ready and setting their goals around college.