Admissions Insight: Course & Extracurricular Planning for 7th-10th Graders

As many families discover too late, students apply to college as 12th graders–but their application includes everything they’ve accomplished since 9th grade. And in an increasingly competitive admissions environment, top-choice schools expect more AP/honors classes and extracurricular impact than ever before, meaning that the most competitive applicants thoughtfully plan their classes and activities as early as middle school so that they can fit everything in. Join veteran admissions consultant and Georgetown admissions rep Joanna Graham to break down strategies for advance planning to get the most out of your high school years, including: •Must-have STEM classes, and building a schedule that fits in all the necessary prerequisites. •How to fit AP/honors classes into 9th-10th grade schedules to avoid overwhelming workloads later on. •Planning for extracurricular leadership and impact: year-by-year strategies to find a student’s niche, demonstrate evidence of impact, and build entrepreneurial/self-guided activities. •Using summers, dual-enrollment, and other nontraditional options to fill prerequisites and challenging classes outside of a restrictive school schedule