Webinar Transcript: Freshman and Sophomores: What Should I Be Doing?

This webinar occurred on March 10, 2021 and featured Anthony Su, Katie Young, and Sarah Yiu. Some of the school policies and changes mentioned in the webinar may have been updated by the time you are reading this article. Feel free to request a free consultation for more up to date information. 

Anthony Su: Hey everyone. Good evening. Really appreciate everyone taking the time today to come join the next installment of our webinar series. Of course, I'll give a little bit of time to make sure everyone gets a chance to come in.

I really appreciate the chance to chat with our younger students that go through this process – what can be a really scary process: thinking about college, how do I plan for it right now, right? But I definitely want to make sure that you guys get some guidance and some ideas of how to start early. And that's really kind of the theme for today.

Of course, as usual, feel free to use the Q&A in the chat box below to put your ideas or questions that you have as you go through this process, and we'll try to spend the last 15 to 20 minutes to try to answer whatever's on your guys' minds in regards to this process.

So I want to introduce Katie and Sarah, who will be joining us and giving us their thoughts today. Katie, do you want to introduce yourself? And then Sarah will be right after you.

Katie Young: Got it. Hi everybody, my name is Katie Young. I am the associate consulting director here at ILUMIN. I've been with the company for about three years now, but I've been consulting for about eight – yikes!

So I went to USC – University of Southern California. I studied english and creative writing there. And then, recently in 2020, I actually went back to school. I got my master's degree in counseling. So, basically, I love writing; I love talking; I love college, and I'm happy to be here to share some of my knowledge with everyone.

Anthony Su: Awesome. Sarah, can you go ahead?

Sarah Yiu: Yeah. Hey everybody, I'm Sarah. I am actually a new consultant on the ILUMIN team, but I've been doing educational consulting / college counseling for about seven years. I was previously a high school college counselor at an international school in Hong Kong. That was right before joining ILUMIN. I'm currently based in Austin, Texas. And I would love to answer some of your questions today.

Anthony Su: Awesome. Perfect. I appreciate both of you taking the time to give us your thoughts.

So I would love to introduce and think through this process. Of course, a lot of parents think, “Freshman year, sophomore year, I feel like the colleges aren't looking at that as much as part of the admissions process,” right? So I do want to preface and think about, what do colleges care about at this time period for students? What would be some of the things to consider for this time for students?

Katie Young: Looking at it from a top-down approach is important. So looking at it from the perspective of colleges. How are they going to view these first couple of years of high school? How important are they in the grand scheme of things?

I would say that the most important year for all students is going to be 11th grade. That's the year that comes right before you're applying to colleges. It should really serve as an accumulation or a capstone to all of your different accomplishments, passions, and interests through high school. And so, for ninth and tenth grade, what we're looking for is: where are the building blocks toward those capstone moments and those accumulative moments?

So, individually, as years, of course they're important. But they're not going to say, “Oh, you slipped and got one B freshman year, so therefore you're not admitted to our school.” There's a lot of wiggle room for some small mistakes, or some adjustment period to high school. Maybe you didn't quite get as involved as you should have freshman year. Maybe you were stuck on Zoom freshman year. There are a lot of factors that can go into that period of time, and colleges are going to be forgiving; they're going to see how your upward trend moves along over time.

So we're climbing a ladder. Think of it that way.

Anthony Su: Slowly ramping up, climbing up this ladder. And I think there's also this idea that there is leeway, right? Students can experiment, try different things. If you get a little bit of a poorer grade it's not as big a deal as doing poorly in 11th grade or things like that.

And also, how should students really prioritize their academics at this point? Is it important that you think about AP classes right away, or should you be exploring the various topics? What's your take here in regards to this?

Sarah Yiu: I've worked with many students and families who are like, “When I get into high school, I just want to take all the AP classes. Sign me up! I'm going to take 10 of them by the time I graduate high school.” And I think that's a great goal, but most high schools have a course progression for students. This is on the course offerings that every high school has on their website. And it's a good idea to plan ahead for what AP courses you might be able to take, mostly in grade 11 and grade 12. Some high schools will allow students to start to take some AP courses in grade 10, but that's usually very minimal.

So I would say, if you have a major in mind, definitely follow that direction, plan ahead and think about what prerequisites you can take in grade 9 and grade 10. If you are a student who's doing pretty well, and also willing to take on some challenges, I would encourage you to take some honors classes. That would usually bode well for taking AP classes sooner.

But, planning-wise, I would say, you can follow UC A through G requirements. Everybody can access that online. What it is is a list of UC-approved courses for each high school. So if you put your high school name in there, you can find out the whole course list that is already approved for UC and, in extension, many other universities in the U.S.

Anthony Su: Yeah, so of course we start with that A through G course list, and, definitely, those are classes to consider, that will count as credit as we go into the application. If it's accepted by the UCs, then the vast majority of colleges will also accept it, right? So, definitely, we can start there.

I'll launch one more quick poll. We want to get a rough gauge of who's in the room, in regards to students, parents, things like that. So I would really appreciate your thoughts here, so that we can tailor it to whoever is here.

But maybe you are the student that says, “I do want to make sure I can take that AP class,” or, “There are restrictions at my high school; I'm not able to take statistics, but I really want to do it.” How would you recommend getting around that, and what would be a good idea there?

Katie Young: Yeah, the A through G list is a great place to start to see, “What classes should I be focusing on?” There are also certain graduation requirements that you're going to need to meet, that your school's going to make sure that you meet. So you're not going to have as much flexibility with some classes. Four years of English is required. Three years of history is required. Things like that. And usually the graduation requirements are going to line up with the A through G requirements.

Sorry, I saw some questions in the chat. I was just trying to address those first. But, yeah, there are going to be some rules and there are going to be some hurdles that you need to clear before you can take whatever class you want.

Sometimes schools will have individual rules about this stuff, so they'll say, “Nobody's allowed to take an AP until 11th grade,” or they'll say, “You can't take two math classes at the same time, or two science classes at the same time.” Some classes will require you to get a teacher’s permission to take an AP or a more advanced class, or even an honors class.

Coming into high school, you're going to find a lot more flexibility at a private school versus a public school. And, sometimes, you'll notice the course sequences are different depending on the state or the school district or whether it's public or private. So some of this might not apply to all of the students in the room. We've seen schools in San Francisco, like Proof School and Urban School, where students are taking 10-12 APs in their first year. So it is a thing. But don't accelerate too fast. I guess that's kind of the lesson.

If you want to get around some of your school's restrictions, it is possible to do so. We can go into detail about some specific core sequences, but some things to be aware of would be community college classes, as well as online high school classes. You can take a high school class through another high school that's not affiliated with yours, and we can talk a little bit about that, especially in the context of math and foreign language. I'll let Sarah take over on that part.

Sarah Yiu: Yeah, a lot of parents ask if it's a good idea to take a math class in the summer before grade nine, so that students can accelerate. Or what about any concurrent enrollment? Any way we can accelerate in math or accelerate in science?

I would say that's definitely a good idea, but there are several ways of doing it. You can take an online high school course. UC Scout would be a good place to start with. Or a local community college course that is available even in classes that, perhaps, students are interested in but the current school does not offer. Or summer school is also a good idea to look for math courses that would pair well with the current school.

But for all of those options, you still need to get pre-approval from the high school counselor in order for those course credits to be counted towards your transcript and for the grade to appear in your transcript. So I would say the first step to approach this is to talk to the high school counselor. Usually, schools will have a partnership with a local college or an online high school program, and the high school counselor will point you to that. Or you can tell them, “This is the program I'm looking at. Can you please approve me?” and they would tell you the appropriate steps for that.

As far as far as foreign language is concerned, some students are asking, “Do I need to take four years of foreign language?” You want to be able to get to AP level, because colleges want to see that you're challenging yourself. So if it's possible, I would say take it all the way to AP. Whether it’s from freshman year all the way to senior year – all four years – or if you already speak some Chinese, some French, or some Spanish and you feel comfortable self-studying and taking the AP exam on your own, that's a good goal to do.

However, if you feel like, after the graduation requirement and college requirement of two years of foreign language, you want to use that time to put towards perhaps a science project, perhaps taking an AP course in some other areas, by all means do that. You don't necessarily have to take four years of foreign language. But it is a good idea to put that as a goal.

I have worked with students who apply as a political science major, or biology. Actually, the political science major is pretty interesting. Because he's really interested in international affairs and political science. However, on his own interest and in his own initiative, he self-studied and took outside classes in Russian, and did really really well in a national exam. So he got excellent college admissions results. I would say because of that. Because it's something that is interesting and outside of what other people do.

Again, not all students are interested in foreign languages. But that is an area you can think about.

Anthony Su: And for sure, I do want to clarify. I'm seeing a lot of comments and questions about online courses or community college courses that aren't recognized. We actually did a webinar a few weeks ago; I believe it's called “Planning for 2021 And 2022 Courses.” And I just linked our recordings.

But I do want to address that really quickly, because I recall – and correct me if I'm wrong – that with community college courses you are giving a separate transcript, separate from the high school transcript. So you're submitting two separate transcripts, and, in a way, the college takes that information and calculates a new GPA. It's not specifically important that the high school itself takes that particular course unless you're using the course to skip a particular requirement.

Katie Young: Yes, that's the caveat. If you're in, let's say, biology, and you'd like to take AP biology, and one of the prerequisites for AP biology is chemistry, so you're looking at the community college and you see they offer a chemistry class, you take that over the summer and then you say, “Hey counselor, I finished chemistry! Can I take AP biology now?” They might still say no. They might not accept that credit to satisfy what your school's requirements are.

There are weird reasons for that, and it's very annoying, and it's school-by-school. So pre-approval is always really important if you're trying to use the class to progress through a course sequence or satisfy a graduation requirement. If you're just taking, like, intro to criminology for fun, cool. Do it. That'll be on a separate transcript, and that will be sent to colleges separately. And they will calculate it as a whole with your high school GPA. So everything everybody just said is correct.

Anthony Su: Yes, and as long as it's an A through G requirement, it's listed, and it's certified, it counts. So it doesn't matter that your school doesn't count it in the GPA themselves. You'll still be able to apply and use that as part of the college admissions process.

Katie Young: You're learning a lot from these webinars, Anthony!

Anthony Su: [laughs] Of course! Caveat aside, that's the whole course thing. And, of course, we have those items on the other webinar if you want to take a look at the other recording of that.

But I definitely also want to touch base on, also, CTE as well as electives. Because I think that's another additional area that students are thinking about. “Hey, I'm interested in computer science. Do I take the robotics class?” Or, “I'm looking into sciences, and I'm thinking about doubling up, or doing other things. Are there ways that I can substitute elective courses here?”

Any ideas here? Maybe, Katie, do you wanna take that?

Katie Young: So CTE – Career Technical Education. Some schools will call it ROP – Regional Occupational Program. There are different terms for it.

A lot of these classes are actually UC-approved as an elective class. And these are classes that you can take to learn a professional skill set. So engineering, design, health, tech… There are some on robotics, journalism… all kinds. And, essentially, they pair you with someone in the community who is an expert in that field, or a professional in that field.

Sometimes it's a two-period class where you go off campus and learn experientially. I had a student do that with the nursing program, where she actually got to shadow a nurse in a health tech and take some of the basic exams that a nurse would take while she's still in high school. So these are really cool opportunities if you're not like the typical student.

If you're not finding a lot of interesting electives, don't poo-poo CTE. They're actually really cool classes. And at some schools they'll make you take a CTE class in order to take certain clubs. For example, one of my students wants to be involved in DECA, which is a big business club. This is a big business competition club, and in order to be part of the business club, she actually has to take a CTE class that's focused on business.

You'll see these in your course catalog as choices for electives. They don't sound very typical, so some people are kind of afraid. But double check, and if they're UC-approved, there's really no reason not to try them out.

Anthony Su: Yeah, so effectively, CTE is just a way to say “elective”. It’s a fancy way to say that. It's a traditional course usually specific for a profession.

But, as well, I've also seen questions regarding AP tests, SATs, and things like that. Because, for sure, there have been some massive changes that have occurred recently. And, of course, we also did a webinar on that as well, if you want to go and look at that in more detail.

But the quick version, right? 9th graders, 10th graders: what do we need to think about for standardized tests? Whether it’s SAT, ACT, or APs, what should be on the student's radar there?

Katie Young: Sarah, I think if we go back and talk about some of the core sequences that the students could look into depending on their major, that will show you where these AP and other tests come in. And then I'll go into more detail about the changes in testing recently. I think that might help.

Anthony Su: Yeah, that sounds good. Thank you, Katie. I'll quickly launch the poll, also, for major, because I'd love to, again, comment on who's in the room and give you guys some ideas. But, Sarah, go ahead and lead us through that.

Sarah Yiu: Yeah, so there are some tracks or pathways for certain majors. For example, for STEM, what AP classes should I take by the end of high school in order to prepare for a good application?

I would say, if you're thinking about computer science or engineering, definitely be on track to take AP physics and AP calculus BC by junior year. Again, that's not a hard rule but most of the students you will be competing with will have those two courses down for sure, so I would say, if you're in grade nine, plan ahead and make sure you can enroll in physics and calculus BC by junior year. And if you are interested in pre-med, or doing bio or life sciences, definitely consider taking AP bio and AP chem. Usually students take those in junior year or senior year, so make sure you are taking the correct course sequences to prepare for that.

For business students, there isn’t necessarily a pathway or a course plan for business, because it can be so many things. But I definitely encourage you to take an intro to business class. And, math-wise, at least get to AP calculus AB by senior year; that would be really helpful as well. And you can, depending on your interests, take others – like AP U.S. history – to pair with that.

And for students who are interested in humanities or social sciences, I would say AP English is probably a good idea in grade 12 or grade 11. Or an AP in either world history or social studies would be good.

I would also say, for students who are interested in an art major or architecture major, it's a good idea to take AP art. Many high schools have different course progressions for how you can get to AP art, so make sure you consult your art teacher and also your high school counselor. Some high schools don't have AP art, but you can also take it at an online high school. Or, also, there are some summer programs that could help you with that.

Katie Young: Thank you. I think that's helpful just in terms of planning ahead for when these tests are coming up. So if we're on these core sequences, we're looking at grade 10 and 11 for AP exams. I know there has been a lot of confusion and a lot of changes regarding testing, and for those of you in 9th and 10th grade, you might not be as ear-to-the-ground about some of these changes. We do have another webinar where we discussed it, and I think we have another one coming up, actually, where we’ll discuss it, because it's a pretty hot topic.

But, essentially, for reasons that should be obvious, testing was made optional at most colleges this year. Actually, all; I don't know of any college that still required a test. So every college. And the plan, likely, for people who are going to be seniors next year, is also for testing to be optional.

That said, “optional” means a lot of things. We would still encourage students to go ahead, especially students who are currently in ninth or tenth grade, to go ahead and take an ACT or SAT test.

Does it matter which one? No, it does not. Please take the one that you feel like you are doing the best at. And the way to figure that out is to take a diagnostic or practice test in both the SAT and ACT. They test the same material, but they test it in different ways on different time schedules. So it’s important to try out both, instead of beating your head against something that's not working for you when there's a perfectly viable alternative right over there.

We recommend students finish English 10, and at least the curriculum of algebra 2 – so that would include algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 – before embarking on a test prep quest. That way you know all of the information that's going to be tested, and then all you need to do is focus on the strategies, the structure, and the time management of the test, rather than trying to like scramble to relearn geometry.

Generally, what that means is after 9th or 10th grade, you can start taking those diagnostics and practice tests. Then the typical schedule would be: summer between 10th and 11th grade, we would recommend practicing intensively, and taking your first exam at the beginning of 11th grade. And then, if needed, taking another one in the spring of your junior year. So that's SAT/ACT.

The other big update with those is that there was a writing section. The writing section is no longer going to be required. So that's the essay portion. There's still a grammar section and a reading comprehension section, but the essay section is no longer something that students need to worry about.

I know one big thing that is on the radar for 10th graders is the PSAT, or the preliminary SAT. This will happen at your school. Some schools weren't able to offer it this year, due to, again, circumstances. But it'll happen during school on a weekday. It will be really hard to miss it; you would have to actively not come to school to not take the PSAT. So this is not something that you need to plan ahead for.

But your score on that test in 10th grade is a good indicator of how you're gonna perform when you really do take the test. So if you don't have time to take a diagnostic or a practice, that's a really good option. That test in 11th grade is going to be more important; it's actually going to make you eligible for some scholarships, but that's for another day.

If you're preparing for the SAT, you can do one-on-one tutoring, or group tutoring. There are plenty of organizations that have classes. There are plenty of online-based classes. One resource that we really appreciate is Khan Academy. I'm sure most of you have heard of Khan Academy. They offer free courses for AP preparation, as well as SAT preparation. And for SAT it's really cool because they'll give you a diagnostic, tell you what you need to work on, and then literally give you assignments and set you on a pace to prepare for the test. So it's really really cool.

And then, as far as APs, there's not a specific time. The AP scores, if you pass, are going to get you college credit. The AP classes are going to be weighted in your overall grade. So, actually, taking APs is more important when it comes to academics than it is to test scores, because the AP scores are not actually admissions criteria. They're just, more so, proof of your capabilities in a given subject.

So with the absence of SAT subject tests – which are also cancelled, effectively; not being administered or accepted. Well, if you took it, the college will still accept it, but at this point, no college is looking for SAT subject tests anymore. So that puts a little bit more weight on your performance on APs. But that's a good thing, because the APs are something that you're preparing for and studying for all school year. It's an accumulation of all of your effort.

You're right – I saw in the chat – not all colleges will take full credit for an AP exam. You're absolutely right. But the credits will count regardless. It just depends on where those credits get applied. So just because you took AP Spanish and passed doesn't necessarily mean you'll get out of taking Spanish if your college requires Spanish. But it does mean that you will get credits on your transcript. And credits help you to move forward and advance in your class standing, so there are other advantages to that, like being able to choose your classes sooner, and being able to take upper division classes sooner.

Just to sum up, for AP exams, use your teacher as a resource. And then there are always preparation books and Khan Academy. You'll take these in sequence. There are online high schools where you can take additional APs that are like electives. AP psychology is a popular one. There’s AP economics, AP statistics. These are classes you can find available online if your school does not offer them.

And then for the SAT timeline: if you're in 10th grade, start worrying about it. If you're in 9th grade, wait till you finish English 10.

Anthony Su: And, definitely, as we're going through testing and we're moving through things really quickly, I want to take a moment. We're about to talk about extracurriculars and clubs, adding a whole separate dimension into this, besides courses and testing and things like that. I want to zoom out and also, of course, let Katie and Sarah give their opinions about this process, because I'm seeing questions from parents all around this topic, thinking about, “What really should be the goal from the perspective of a 9th grader or 10th grader going through this process?” Is it to do things that are academically rigorous? Is it to make sure that you can learn a little bit more about what you want to study in the future? What would you say is a rough process that you would recommend?

I saw another parent ask, “Is it better to be well-rounded or is it better be focused?” Can we zoom out and just talk about that first, before we dive into extracurriculars and other things like that?

Sarah Yiu: Yeah, I think that's a great question. I mean, you can't do everything at once! So we definitely have to focus on something.

I think early on, as a grade 9 student, or a grade 10 student, definitely focus on establishing good grades and good study habits, and making sure you have a good foundation for taking on more challenging courses later on. Colleges definitely still look at GPA very highly, because that demonstrates your continuous work and ability over four years. And that is definitely the most important.

On top of that, is it important to take AP classes? Some parents would ask, “Is it important to take more AP classes, or is it better to have a higher GPA?” And that is always a hard question to answer one way or the other. But I would say, if you are a student who is currently getting all A's in regular classes, I would say definitely challenge yourself and take more honors and some AP classes if possible. If you are taking regular courses and not getting all A's, and having B averages, then maybe you need to focus on getting your grades up at this point. Maybe taking an AP class is not the right move for you.

But, then again, I think when colleges look at your applications, they want to see that you're demonstrating focus on the major that you're applying to. If you're applying as a bio major, they want to see that you have done AP bio, or that you have done some extensive work in this area, whether it’s academically or in extracurricular activities or your résumé.

So I would say at this point, because you still have some time, you can plan ahead so that you can, if you haven't decided on a major, explore those major areas. What would be something that interests you? What are some things that you do, and you don't feel like you're putting a lot of work into; you're intrinsically curious and want to learn more about it, and even want to study about it? That leads to a major. You can focus on building on that major, whether it’s academically choosing classes related to it, or choosing non-academic extracurricular summer programs or clubs that are related to this major.

Anthony Su: Katie, anything you want to add regarding this?

Katie Young: No, I think that was a great summary. So exploring your interests, and then beginning to build your résumé in that direction; I think that's the essence of what we're looking at in 9th and 10th grade.

You're not going to have time in 11th grade to sit around and take career tests and explore majors, right? You're going to be busy with all these APs that we're talking about! So I think it's a really good idea to take the time now.

I don't need you to pick your whole future when you're 14. That's not what we're asking! We're just asking you to find an interest and pursue it. Colleges want to see that you're curious, that you're driven, and that you're passionate about stuff. The earlier that starts, the more opportunities that you have to really expand on that.

And what's great about when you think about it in the context of a major is you can attack that subject with academics, you can attack it with testing, and you can attack it with your activities résumé. So it's really a key piece. And that's the exploration component.

We're gonna go into that a little bit right now, actually, as we move into the activity section and the summer planning section of, like, “How can you begin to explore and build in this direction?” I think Sarah said it. I'm sorry, I'm such a talker! Sarah said it perfectly already.

Anthony Su: Yeah, to reiterate – and of course there are a lot of 10th graders and 9th graders; if you leave with one idea: of course grades are the most important, but if you're doing well at school and generally getting all A's, thinking about, “How do I spend my extra time?” It’s a thought of, “Let's get that early visibility towards things that might become majors.” If you're like, “Hey, I'm thinking about marketing or business,” then, yeah, let's think about a community college class or DECA, and getting involved in that. Just small things, just to give you a little bit of a sampling in that direction.

We'll talk a little bit more about that. And, really, that's how you use your clubs and activities and things like that. So I guess, definitely, what activities do you think students should prioritize when they're in 9th grade and 10th grade? What might be a good way to start this process of learning more about your interests?

Sarah Yiu: I think that grade 9 is to explore. Try everything. And if you’re in grade 9 right now, I would encourage you. You probably already joined a lot of different clubs, and that's great. Continue to look at different clubs or teams at school. Try to get any chance of having some responsibility.

Join a team that serves the school community, like a school newspaper team, where you can submit articles as a writer. Or you can be a graphic designer who helps with each edition of the newspaper. Or you can be part of the media team that meets a lot of crew members. 

So try to get involved in school life, either by volunteering your time, or you can join a club. Actually, join an array of different clubs, to get a variety of experiences. Because in grade 9, you get to just be a member, just to experience what they have to offer, and what the upperclassmen are pulling through for you.

And then, in grade 10, you can scope out opportunities for maybe being a leader, maybe holding some officer positions. At that point you probably don't have the time to continue ten clubs, but it's okay. You can cut down on what you don't like, and focus on investing in perhaps being a leader in one club. Later on, in grade 11 you probably want to take up a substantial leadership role or even start your own club!

So in grade 10 and grade 9, it's a great time for you to scope out the landscape of what your school's clubs are like. And see: “Is there anything missing that I would really love to be part of but my school does not have this club or this organization? Maybe some of my friends would like to join me, and we can address the problem in the world and start a club that does that.”

It is all about your passion. It's all about who you are. It is high school, so it's about creating your identity. It does not have to be major-related, although most students join something that's related to their major. But that's okay. You can have one or two or three or four clubs, right? Or five or ten! So, definitely, use these early years of high school to explore and try a bunch of stuff.

Anthony Su: Of course, trial and error is part of this process of learning more about yourself and what you want to do in the future, right?

Katie Young: I just wanted to quickly add, given the circumstances that we're in right now, there might not have been as many clubs and sports and teams and service opportunities available in the last year. But colleges know that. It's okay. They understand. You're not expected to risk your health to join Key Club! So don't panic if you haven't gotten a big head start on this stuff. Your résumé will develop at a different pace than, potentially, the traditional advice that you'll see online or the traditional advice that we're used to giving. And that's the changing landscape; that's not your fault.

If there's something really lacking in your résumé and you have a good reason for it, there's plenty of space to explain what happened, or why you couldn't get involved. “My school canceled all activities,” you know? “My championship season I wasn't able to run because the track team didn't meet.” Just explain it. And just do your best to pursue these interests within the context of what's available to you.

Anthony Su: Absolutely. I think that's a great addition. We're not asking you to do everything or make miracles happen, right?

An additional thought related to the extracurriculars of summer: “How do I use my summers effectively in regards to continuing this idea of exploration or learning more about my interests?”

Sarah Yiu: I think for grade 9 students and grade 10 students, most really substantial programs are not available for students at this age yet. So it's okay! You don't have the pressure of having to do a really important research paper in the summer. You can use the summer to choose something – perhaps it's a summer course at a pre-college program at a university, or it could be a program where you've learned to build a product with a team. And it's exercising creativity and ideas. It's building skills. It's a chance to have hands-on experience with a major or a subject you're probably interested in, but you don't know if you really like it.

I had a student in the past who really wanted to do law in the future. They were not sure how to approach it, but they're watching all these legal shows and really excited to be a lawyer one day. And they said, “I definitely want to do a major that’s in the pre-law track.”

I'm like, “Okay, that's great.” So we sign up for a summer program in a legal studies area, and even sign up for an internship at a law firm. They probably were just buying coffee and so, but they got to see what it's like to be a lawyer, and what it's like to work in a legal office and look at the cases.

After three weeks, they came back and said, “I hated it. That was so boring. I never want to do that again!”

And that's okay. That’s the process, and that’s what you want to do this summer. Not necessarily going into something you don't like! But try and to let yourself experience it, and try to picture yourself doing it in the future – whether it’s going to college for four years in that subject, or just learning more about it. This summer is great for you to join some fun programs and exploratory programs.

For STEM students, if you're interested, you already know you want to be a scientist or you already know you want to go into some STEM track – I definitely think that this would be a good summer for you to take some STEM-related summer program courses. Whether it’s a course in cognitive science or in physics or whatsoever, there are plenty of these introductory courses for grade 9 and grade 10 students who are interested in that.

The reason for that is, in the next summer – perhaps rising senior or rising junior year – you might want to take a more substantial summer program that is focused on that major. For that they usually have an application with an essay. You can talk about what you've done in the previous summer that is related to that topic. So it’s important for this current summer, early on, to try a bunch of stuff, do something that you are interested in, and, later on, you'll be able to talk about that.

Anthony Su: Continuing that trial and error process, right? Katie, did you want to add?

Katie Young: Yeah, just a quick thing. The question I get a lot is, “Which summer program is more valuable?” Or, like, “What do colleges think of the summer program?” The summer program is what you make of it. What did you accomplish? What did you learn? What did you enjoy? What did you take away from it? That's what they're asking about every activity and everything on your résumé.

I usually just encourage you to pursue stuff. If you're an 11th grader and it's a typical program for a 9th grader – says some blog, somewhere – who cares? If it's exciting to you, take it! Just try it out. Just go. Just explore.

I know we keep saying that word, but I think that's important to colleges. Colleges want to see that you're curious and driven and excited to learn things. Why else are you going to college? So when you have free time, how are you spending it? As long as you're spending it doing something that you enjoy and that you feel passionate about, great.

If it's not academic, that's okay too. You can do service or leadership. You can work at a summer camp. Whatever floats your boat, it's cool. And I want you to relax, too! I don't need you to be busy every single second of the summer. You're a human being, and you deserve to take a break.

But it's important, when you have free time, how do you choose to use that free time? And how can you articulate the value of that free time? That's really where summers come into the conversation.

I saw in the chat, someone was saying, “Where do I find summer courses?” or “Where do I get this stuff?” Honestly, just Google it. Google, like, “computer science programs for freshmen,” and you'll find like 15 things that'll just pop up. And what you're comparing at that point is, “How long is this program? How much does this program cost? Who's teaching it? Is it people that work at the university, or is it random people that they're bringing in for the summer?” You can suss out this information pretty easily.

At ILUMIN we've got spreadsheets on spreadsheets about all this stuff that we've accumulated over the years. But it's not like we know something you don't know. It's all on the internet. So feel free to build a list of programs you're interested in, look at the deadlines, figure out what the requirements are, and go.

I will say, as a caveat for this summer – I know, we keep throwing caveats at you – but everything's online! I'm so sorry, everything is still online. There are like just two programs that are still functioning as in-person programs! So if you're tired of sitting at your computer, just don't worry about a summer program this year. Just go outside and play.

Anthony Su: Caveats for this summer. But absolutely, a summer program is what you make of it. And it is critical that the student can get more out of it. It's not like the college is necessarily looking for a certain brand name school or things like that as part of the application process.

Right. We're wrapping up soon, so put your questions in the Q&A box. But, I guess, one last final question is thinking about this whole process of college preparation: “I know I have to do essays, and there are so many things coming up! Should I start thinking about a college list as a 9th grader?”

What should a 9th grader or a 10th grader do, if anything, at this point? Should they just leave it, don't worry about it, come back in 11th grade?

Katie Young: It depends on you and what you're ready to think about. Major exploration is a lot more important than college exploration at this point in time, because once you find the major you like, it's easy to find colleges that are good at that major and offer that major. So it kind of works in reverse. But if you've grown up wearing a USC sweatshirt because your dad went there and your uncle went there and your mom went there, then you can start looking at, “What does USC offer me? Because I'm gonna go there.” And you can do your research that way.

So as far as doing research, I don't need you to sit down and make a spreadsheet about colleges, but it is a good idea to get familiar with what's available out there. One reason being you can get more motivated if you find a school that you're like, “Oh my gosh, I belong there! This school is incredible,” you're gonna work a lot harder to get to that point where you're going.

I think, for a lot of 9th and 10th graders, college is this distant dream that they've seen in a movie – like all the boys I've loved before, or whatever. But if you have an idea of what's out there and what's realistic, you can start to get psyched about it. There are some websites that we usually send our students to. Niche – niche.com – is a great place to research colleges. Big Future – which is Collegeboard's website – is a great place to research. I can type these in the chat in a second, Sarah's gonna start talking.

Big Future is a great place. Road Trip Nation. These are all great websites where you can hear from different career pathways, and understand what a pathway looks like. “What classes would I have to take as an economics major? If I want to be a production designer, there's no clear path to that; what do I do?” All those websites will help you clarify.

Colleges are having webinars these days where you can attend and hear directly from admissions representatives who work for the college about what they're all about and what they're looking for. There are college fairs going on right now; I'll put the names of those in the chat. There are also virtual visit tools. This is, literally, you follow a virtual student through the school. And then CampusReel is like, “I'm a student at Boston College and I'll just film my day and talk through it,” so you can see what is a typical day in the life of Sally at Boston College.

If you do sign up for these webinars or if you do attend a rep visit… A representative will visit your high school in the fall, by the way. They always come through in the fall. Usually the counselors will make sure it's only juniors and seniors that are going to those, but if you end up getting into a webinar or a rep visit, sign in with the student's name and the student's email rather than the parent's name and the parent's email, because they're tracking interactions with students and they're tracking interactions via email. So make sure your contact information stays consistent. Create a Sarah's college email at gmail.com address, just so that you have this consistent place where they can find you and send you information.

I'm gonna start typing all that in the chat while Sarah finishes up this section of what you should be doing right now for college.

Anthony Su: And, by the way, that student email thing is what they call demonstrated interest, so that consistency is important. Okay, Sarah, Take it away!

Sarah Yiu: If you are doing all of the above, and still find that you have a lot of time – which is rare – by all means, do more! Everybody's heard of college essays – that there are tons of essays, they're really hard to write, and they're asking you all about like your personal experience, personal feelings, and all that stuff. That is correct. But you can definitely work towards it from an early age. What you can do is you can keep a journal, and you can write down these personal anecdotes of everyday things that are happening in your life. Or, if you're attending a summer program or you are volunteering, how does it make you feel?

Some of these are not necessarily just working towards college essays, per se. Perhaps next year you're applying to a program in the summer, and they probably will ask you something similar to that. You can already have those anecdotes and some of the stories, some of the notes, just to help you remember and help you reflect on what you're currently doing. Everything is important – not only for colleges but also to you. It helps you gain self-awareness as well, so keeping a journal is definitely helpful.

From grade 9 onwards, it's helpful to also keep a list of activities that you have either explored or or are planning to develop. That is something that, at the end for your college applications, you have to submit. Not necessarily that list, but the college apps will ask you to put in perhaps 10 entries or 15 entries from different categories, and it's helpful to help yourself remember how many hours you've spent on volunteering, or how many hours have you helped in this marketing club, and so on and so forth.

It's just an easy way for you to keep track of what you've done so far. And many students look at their list from grade 9 and then compare it to the list they've gotten at the end of grade 11, and they see, “Actually, I've done a lot. I've matured a lot throughout high school.” That is something good to have for the future, when you are filling out applications.

Another good thing to do is to read books. I know it's really general advice but reading is good for you. It's the best way to explore what is out there, and what other people's studies are like. What are some interesting topics? Reading is actually the easiest way to find out what you're interested in. And, also, for a more realistic purpose, colleges will ask you what books you've been reading for fun. That way they can tell what type of a person you are. They want to know a little bit more about you outside of your résumé and outside of your academic transcript. And that adds to the application as well. So if you have time, grade 9 summer, grade 10, when you have time – spring break – read books!

I would also say, if you are a student who is currently struggling in finding a major or finding a direction, and you feel really lost, you feel like everybody already knows what their career for the next 30 years is going to be – first of all, that's not true! Most students don't know about that. But if you do want to put in a conscious effort in finding out what major or career you might be interested in, this is a really good time for you to reach out to, perhaps, adults around you: your aunties and uncles, or even your neighbors, ask them what their day-to-day work life is like. Perhaps list out some of the careers that you're interested in and reach out to people with that career. You can even go to LinkedIn or Facebook to reach out to different adults and say, “Hey, I actually want to ask you a little bit about your career. How did you get there? What's your day-to-day work life like?” That's also a good way of finding out whether that is a good fit for you, or a major that you want to pursue further down the line.

Anthony Su: Definitely. Of course, a little bit of everything. And to reiterate, because we did talk a lot – and of course this recording will be on our website, so you can come back and take a look; there is so much information!

Takeaways, again: the main two things. Of course, grades are the first thing! But then it’s about exploring a little bit. Any step in that direction – whether it’s interviewing adults to learn more about a career path, or doing a summer activity or doing a club to learn more about business, such as DECA. All those little things help.

We'll move on to Q&A. I realize we don't have as much time as usual, but you can also request a free consultation with us as well, to go through the more specific questions about your student. I’m seeing a couple of specific questions about types of programs or going in this particular major and then going later into medicine and things like that. We can give you some thoughts in that free consultation – so feel free to let us know. I'll put the link if you want to put your information down right now, but we'll also reach out to you through the poll as well.

All right. I'll go through the questions – and, again, I apologize; I have been talking a little bit here. But I do want to ask this one first. It caught my eye, and I was also a musician for eight years by the time I was a senior in high school! The question is: “Is it a good idea to take four years of orchestra, or should I go about taking different electives as I go through the school?” Any idea here in regards to this?

Sarah Yiu: There is definitely not a requirement for music, other than the visual and performing arts credit, but if you're a student who is really interested in music and that is your one passion, I definitely encourage you to continue to pursue it! But if it’s something you're just doing, and you're not sure what to try and just doing it because that's what you've been doing, then I would say yeah, definitely explore other things.

I don't think colleges look down on students who are really focused on their one extracurricular activity. Orchestra is a good way of learning teamwork. It's a great opportunity for a lot of competitions and tour opportunities. And students who have orchestra experience, or are really close to their band or orchestra teacher, might even get a recommendation from their orchestra teacher.

So that is not a bad idea. I don't think it's a terrible idea to take orchestra for four years. But, again, if it’s interfering with some of the more substantial classes you're taking later on – because it's taking too much time – then that is a decision you want to make: whether it’s more important to take music or more important to take another AP course.

Anthony Su: Definitely. Along a similar vein, like, “Hey, do I take four years of X?” – and the typical thing is foreign language, right? It's like, “Should I continue to take foreign languages for four years if I want to go in the direction of the sciences or computer science?”

Katie Young: Same idea, right? If it's in your schedule and you're interested in it and you're doing well, keep it, because colleges want to see that you go above and beyond the basic requirement. But if it's getting in the way – if it's taking up too much time, or if you're struggling with it, it's stressing you out, and you're not planning on being, like, an international relations computer scientist – then I would say just get rid of it and focus your time on something that matters more to you. And if you feel obligated to finish, find an online high school that's self-paced, and you can just take Spanish 3 in your own time, have it be really flexible for you, and probably get a better grade, to be honest!

Anthony Su: Yeah, continuing that process of thinking about, what is the student’s priority at that point? Do they want to be a computer scientist – Katie, what did you say, “computer scientist with international experience”? Whatever example that Katie said! They're really specific for the student. That might make sense, or otherwise may not be a priority, right?

Continuing this idea of, also, leadership. There's this idea of, “There are only so many leadership positions at my school,” or, “Hey, I'm a little bit more shy; I'm not sure if I'm ready for that as a 10th grader or going into 11th grade.” What would be your recommendation for that kind of student – who's not completely sure if they want to go down that leadership path yet or, frankly, wants to avoid the leadership path?

Sarah Yiu: There are different types of leaders, right? You can be the president who's calling the shots and organizing everything, but you can also be a leader who's more in the background. Many officer positions are like marketing. Or you can be in charge of reaching out to students, or organizing the logistics of your club, or a charity or a volunteering opportunity.

I find that most students who are a little bit more shy don't necessarily want to take up the leadership roles that are in the forefront. But they usually feel more comfortable serving others. And those are great opportunities to be a leader as well, because you are using your time and your energy to serve other students. You can tutor. You can also serve students who are in, perhaps, a more underprivileged community. You can provide something that they don't have – for example, a STEM class, if that's something you're interested in.

And it doesn't have to be always holding on the mic, and being on stage in the limelight, necessarily. You can also come up with a project that you're really comfortable doing. If you're interested in art or in music, you can put up your own show. You can showcase it on Instagram and gain followers that way. And you don't necessarily have to talk to anybody in that way.

There are many opportunities where students can use their own interests and their strengths to shine, and not have to be the president of a club or a student council president, necessarily.

Katie Young: I know we're short on time, but I have three things to say about this. Number one is, if the college picked every single class president in the world, it would be a really boring and annoying place. They don't want everybody to be exactly the same. They don't want all the presidents. So don't worry about it.

Number two is you get to write essays about yourself, and so if you don't have a key leadership position on your résumé, you can talk about a time in which you exhibited leadership, and still prove that you have leadership qualities without having “president” on your résumé.

And then— oh, I forgot the third thing. So two things.

Anthony Su: Got it, great. Two things.

Of course, running out of time. I do want to make sure that we can also highlight, again, the next action item for the student. And thinking about, of course, grades, and then exploring, we had some questions about, like, what would you recommend for career exploration, if there are any particular sites, or how would you recommend a student go through that particular process? Is it watching documentaries or YouTube videos about careers? Is there a particular site that you would recommend? Or how would you recommend continuing that process, beyond reaching out for informal interviews or things like that?

Katie Young: Yeah, I'll just say one that I already put in the chat. It's called Road Trip Nation. It's a really weird name for a website, but basically what they did is they went out and they interviewed people in all kinds of careers about how they got to that point. And it's very funny how the place where they started is not the place where they ended up. It just shows how they were able to follow their passion through different points in their life to get where they are now. And they'll give tips and tricks and “a day in the life”, what it looks like to be them.

You'll find some really famous people on there, and you'll find people you've never heard of. But it's a good place to start – just understanding that you don't have to know everything right now, you just have to follow your passions.

Anthony Su: Yes, so definitely I think we can start there – Road Trip Nation – for students to take a look at that. And I just put the other link in the chat. And, of course, feel free to reach out. I apologize I wasn't able to get into all the questions today, but please reach out to us with the free consultation, and we can go through in more detail: next steps and how we can help you through this process of continuing to think about exploring and getting ready for this admissions process.

Right. So really appreciate it, again, everyone for joining us this evening. I think we're going to have another webinar soon, probably next week, but definitely, again, Katie, Sarah, appreciate you guys taking your time, and appreciate everyone for coming out today.

Katie Young: Thanks everybody, have a good day.

Sarah Yiu: Bye!

Anthony Su: Thanks, see everyone.