What are can you do to be college-ready? We've compiled a list of things to help get you started.
Reflection Worksheet
Reflect on your passions, strengths, and challenges through this activity sheet.
11th Grade Checklist
Self Exploration: Explore your interests, values, and skills
❑ Complete an assessment to measure your interests, values, and skills. Career exploration can give you some insight into how your interests align with potential major and career options. You can also explore majors by watching the UCSB Major Spotlights playlist!
❑ Use a journal or notebook to express your feelings, inspire creativity and ideas, enhance your memory, and monitor your progress with your life goals.
Summer Involvement
❑ Participate in summer enrichment programs like UCSB’s Pre-College Program. This program is available to 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students. Applications open in December. Check their site for application details!
❑ Summer jobs, internships, and/or volunteer opportunities are a great way to demonstrate leadership, initiative, your sense of social responsibility and service.
Get involved!
❑ Participate in activities both inside and outside of the classroom. Play sports, explore the arts, get involved in leadership, or join a student organization! You don’t have to do it all, but it is important to have well-rounded interests.
Gain a mentor to assist you with your goals
❑ Seek guidance from a teacher/counselor to assist you with your educational and professional pursuits.
❑ Register to take AP exams in the spring.
Take time to think about your life experiences
❑ Explore the personal insight question (PIQ) prompts to better understand the topics that will be asked on the UC application. You can explore the UCSB PIQ help playlist!
Attend college nights and fairs
❑ Gather general information about your schools of interest (discover academic majors, campus resources, student life, cost of attendance, and more).
Participate in college webinars
❑ Register for UCSB UC Application workshops (late spring and through the summer).
Plan for the next grade level
❑ Go beyond the minimum “a-g” requirements and choose advanced high school courses (AP, IB, honors) that challenge you and will stand out on a college application.
❑ Pursue your passions and enroll in elective coursework that sparks your interests and strengthens your high school transcript.
Plan for the summer
❑ Apply for a summer job, internships, and/or volunteer opportunities.
❑ Sign up to take in dual enrollment or college-level courses (online or in-person) over the summer. Meet with your counselor for guidance and enrollment support.
9th-10th Grade Checklist
Start thinking about college
❑ Learn about “a-g“ subject requirements.
❑ Explore the UC admission eligibility and GPA requirements.
❑ Learn about the benefits of taking advanced classes, such as advanced placement courses, honors, and college-level courses in high school.
Talk to your family and supporters about college preparation
❑ Schedule a meeting with your family members and high school counselor to discuss high school coursework selection that will get you on the path to college.
❑ Explore the basics of attending college to better understand your educational options.
❑ Research about the cost to attend college and the ways to pay for it (financial aid, grants, scholarships, work study, and more).
❑ Create a summer reading list with input from your teachers and counselors.
Self Exploration: Find your passion
❑ Create a list of things that make you happy and resonate with your interests, talents, passions, and goals.
❑ Use a journal or notebook to express your feelings, inspire creativity and ideas, enhance your memory and critical thinking skills, and monitor your progress with your life goals.
Get involved!
❑ Participate in activities both inside and outside of the classroom. Join a sports team, explore your musical talents, take an art or dance class, get involved in student leadership, participate in afterschool activities, take on a leadership role, or join a student club/organization.
Use tools to stay on track and organize your school assignments
❑ Get a planner to write down assignments and deadlines; use folders and notebooks to keep all papers and notes in a central location and place labels on them to categorize each; use markers to color-code your assignments.
Attend college nights and fairs
❑ Gather general information about your schools of interest (discover academic majors, campus resources, student life, cost of attendance, and more).
Plan for the next grade level
❑ Go beyond the minimum “a-g” requirements and choose advanced high school courses (AP, IB, honors) that challenge you and will stand out on a college application.
❑ Sign up to take in dual enrollment or college-level courses (online or in-person) over the summer. Meet with your counselor for guidance and enrollment support.
❑ Pursue your passions and enroll in elective coursework that sparks your interests and strengthens your high school transcript.
Summer Involvement
❑ Participate in summer enrichment programs like UCSB’s Pre-College Program. This program is available to 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students. Applications open in November. Check their site for application details!
❑ Apply for a summer job, internships, and/or volunteer opportunities. Demonstrating leadership, initiative, your sense of social responsibility and service are all important college applicant qualities.
Anytime
❑ Prepare for AP exams 1-3 months before your test day. Create a study plan to map out your study and preparation time.
❑ Focus on maintaining As and Bs in your courses. Academic performance is a key factor in admission selection.
❑ Keep a record of achievements, awards/honors, roles and responsibilities, during freshman year. Showcasing your involvements and accomplishments will be important when applying to college.
❑ Sign up for campus tours of colleges, like UCSB, and/or universities you’re interested in. Consider visiting UCSB while classes are in session, or at Open House, to get a feel of the campus environment. Check out UCSB’s Open House in the spring.
❑ Build out your college list to help narrow down your options to find your right fit. Consider three ‘dream’ schools, three ‘target’ schools, and three ‘safety’ schools.
❑ Consider if the freshman or the transfer pathway is the best option for you.
❑ Research the cost of attending college and the ways to pay for it (financial aid, grants, scholarships, work study, and more).
❑ Consider creating a California College account to monitor your college preparation progress all in one place.
❑ Gain assistance from an advisor or counselor to help you with academic assistance, such as tutoring support and study tips.
❑ Seek out support and guidance from a teacher, counselor, your parents/guardians, or a peer-mentor to assist you academic and/or personal support.
