6 Tips For 9th Graders Preparing for College
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Did you know that 9th graders can begin putting their college portfolio together this year? The Coalition for College Access, Affordability and Success uses a platform called “The Locker” which allows students to begin building their college portfolio/resume. Students can begin as early as 9th grade and periodically add to the Locker every semester of each succeeding year.
How to prepare for college in the 9th Grade and what to put in “The Locker”
- As soon as the summer starts after the completion of 8th grade students can begin recording community service and internship hours for high school. Those hours are then used for a student’s college portfolio and can be logged in your CAAS Locker. Leading into 9th grade students can begin recording the work that they’ve done and what they have learned from that experience.
- A coach, teacher, mentor, etc can begin writing recommendations and file them in “The Locker”. Having recommendations already filed makes them easily accessible should the student need them in the near future for anything the student wishes to pursue.
- Take rigorous coursework. Begin taking AP or Honors level courses. Higher ed institutions always favor a student who receives a B in an honors course over an A in a standard course.
- Seek out opportunities to shadow career professionals. Use the time you have to explore career options before it’s too late. Colleges like to see that a student is dedicated to a particular field of work. That is the reason you are going to college and colleges need to know that their students are committed to graduating on time to begin their careers in the working world.
- Attend a local and FREE NACAC College Fair. In Jacksonville there is always a local NACAC college fair with over a 100 colleges in attendance. Find out when this year’s will be and where.
- Find out who your School Counselor is. Your School Counselor is a wealth of information and can be your strongest advocate. Find out who they are early and sustain a relationship with them so you know where to go to for various resources that will help with the high school and college planning process.
