How to Prep for College Before Senior Year

How to Prep for College Before Senior Year

Hi everyone! 😊 Here are four steps to take before the end of junior year to prep for the college application process. It’s never too early to start doing these things so I recommend that freshmen and sophomores also read this! ☀️

Your junior year summer will likely be filled with SAT prep and narrowing down the list of prospective colleges. Thinking ahead now will lighten your load later, and your future self will be grateful you did.

• Start early with SAT prep. Starting SAT prep during junior year gives you the flexibility to study at a steady pace rather than cramming the summer before senior year and during the first marking period. It also helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses. By starting early, you’ll have more time to focus on improving the sections that need the most work, increasing your chances of a higher overall score.

• Explore your career interests. During your junior year, try exploring careers to discover what interests you. It could be through a part-time job, volunteering, job shadowing, and more. If you enjoy the work, consider joining a related club at your school to keep building on that interest. The earlier you start volunteering or interning, the more time you have to grow in the role—and possibly take on leadership (eventually becoming a club leader, for example), which looks great on college applications.

• Start exploring prospective colleges. Begin building a list of colleges you might be interested in during your junior year. The summer after junior year is a great time to attend a few college campus tours or virtual info sessions. Niche is a helpful tool to organize and compare the colleges that interest you.

• Get serious about volunteer hours. As of 2025, students at Jersey City Public High Schools must complete 25 hours of community service as a graduation requirement. Note that this threshold can change from year to year. Students are responsible for tracking their own hours (it can be during the school years and / or the summers), which includes obtaining a letter that lists the hours completed from the organization you volunteered with. I recommend following Jersey Cares if you are looking for volunteer opportunities, and specifically seeking opportunities that align with your interests. The Jersey Cares website features a Volunteer Opportunity Calendar, which can be filtered by location to reveal hundreds of ongoing events near you. Ideally, there should be a theme—for example, if you are in healthcare, you might volunteer at Jersey City Medical Center.

Feel free to comment or email us directly if you have further questions! 😊