Post By: COYD Staff
Second, DISCOVER A PURPOSEFUL GOAL.
Your freshmen year is a time of experimentation. By the time you finish the first semester of your sophomore year, you should have a better idea of who you are and what things you want to accomplish during your high school career.
Purposeful goals are more than just goals. A goal might be getting into XYZ university or becoming editor of your school yearbook; however, purposeful goals are goals that will move you toward what you truly want. I hear many students say things like “I want to go to Harvard” and when I ask them why, they don’t have an answer. When you have a purposeful goal, getting a rejection from a university or not winning a student council race shouldn’t destroy your plan. Goals that have purpose have many ways which they can be achieved.
Purposeful goals not only help you in life, but they also help you get into the top universities. Students with purpose are more likely to stand out on their application than a student without purpose. With that said, a purposeful goal should have a well-thought out plan: one that utilizes all the resources that you are afforded during your high school career and that consists of mini-goals that will get you closer to achieving the purposeful goal.
Third, DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT THE PLAN.
Once you have a purposeful goal, you can put together a comprehensive plan. This plan should include classes you should take, extracurriculars you should participate in, teachers you should develop relationships with, magazines/books you should read, organizations you should develop a relationship with, people you should meet, hours of studying you should do for the SAT, and leadership positions you should run for.
If one of your mini-goals is to run for president of XYZ club, you probably want to plan on running for treasurer or secretary of that club your junior year. In order to do that, you should get involved with the club early, attend their weekly meetings, and volunteer for certain events. When the opportunity to run for an office comes around, you will have the credibility and experience in that club to run for office.
When you develop a comprehensive plan early on, you will enjoy your studies and you won’t be stressed come junior year when you are taking the SAT or senior year when you are putting together you college application.
Do not create a plan that will overwhelm you. Since you have started early, you have time to spread out the items in your plan outside of your classes. If you create an unrealistic schedule, you probably won’t follow it.
I hope this 2 part post has given you a better idea of what it means to start early on your college applications. On the surface, it might seem like a lot of work but I assure you that if you have a purposeful plan, high school will be a bit more enjoyable and you will be more excited about your classes and less stressed about the future.
