Tanked Your Junior Year? Try This 3-Step Strategy
Your junior year of high school is perhaps the most critical for college admissions, experts say.
“Junior year is the last complete year of grades for colleges to look at as they consider admission,” according to GoingIvy, a college admissions consulting firm. “If your grades have been mediocre, now is the most important time to improve them. This is also the time to make sure you are taking the most challenging courses you can handle.”
If, however, you haven’t performed up to par in your junior year, there are a few ways to bounce back. Bradford Holmes and Tiffany Sorensen, tutors at Varsity Tutors and contributors at US News, recently delve into how to recover from a bad junior year and set yourself up for a successful college application season.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
College admissions is stressful. And not having strong numbers going in can add to the distress. Holmes and Sorensen say the first matter of business is getting in the right head space, so you can effectively accomplish what you want.
“This process is not one-size-fits-all, but experts agree that doing exercise, spending time outdoors, sleeping well, pursuing hobbies and surrounding yourself with good people are behaviors that generally work well for everyone,” Holmes and Sorensen say.
PINPOINT THE ‘WHY’
In order to improve, you’ll need to understand the cause of your poor performance.
“For this step, be brutally honest with yourself as you are alone with your thoughts,” Holmes and Sorensen say. “Maybe you’re not used to introspecting in this way, so it may be awkward initially. If that happens, try journaling in a notebook that only you will see.”
It can be helpful to start asking yourself “why.”
“For example, the first question in the series may be, ‘Why didn’t I achieve my ACT target score?’ Holmes and Sorensen say. “The answer may be that you did not devote enough time to preparation. Then you would ask yourself, ‘Why did I not have enough time?’ Eventually, you may realize that the core issue is not a lack of time but poor time management skills.”
CREATE A PLAN
Once you’ve determined the cause of your mistakes, it’s time to put together a strategic plan.
“To that end, brainstorm a list of potential solutions and implement one or several that seem plausible,” Holmes and Sorensen say. “If you know your test prep suffered because of poor time management skills, you could resolve to spend less time texting on your phone each day. A screen-time-limiting smartphone app could help you achieve this goal. Then, every day at 4 p.m., for example, you could set out to answer at least 10 ACT practice test questions.”
Holmes and Sorensen suggest utilizing your summer effectively to put your plan into action.
“If your grades were your principal disappointment, commit to reviewing course material that you are likely to encounter again in your senior-year courses,” Holmes and Sorensen say. “Content review will prove especially useful in cumulative subjects like math and foreign language. You could also use the summer to enhance your extracurricular profile. School clubs and teams do not usually meet in the summer months, so explore opportunities to contribute to your larger community – for instance, through volunteer work at your local library.”
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