Best Advice for High School Freshmen

Updated November 2023

Summary: Freshman year of high school is the perfect time to start thinking about what you want to do in life, and putting in place the plans to get you there. That means prioritizing your grades, and choosing activities that help you excel.

It’s not all bad…

Most kids think that it sucks to be a freshmen in high school. You’re the youngest kids in school. You have no idea what’s going on. Maybe you’re worried that someone’s going to steal your lunch money.

But I’m here to tell you the exact opposite: it’s the most wonderful time of year. Why? Because for the first time, you get to start making choices for yourself and thinking about how you want to live the rest of your life. In four short years, you’re going to be out of high school, off at some college of your choice, pursuing whatever it is you want to do with your life. That’s freedom. And the power to chart that course starts now.

So here are our 5 best pieces of advice for high school freshman…

#1. Start thinking about college now

College is your golden ticket to go wherever you want to go. Maybe you want to study Marine Biology in Malibu at Pepperdine University. Or maybe you want to go to a top school like MIT or Caltech to study artificial intelligence. Or maybe you want to be a foreign diplomat and you think the best place to get your feet wet is near our nation’s capital at Georgetown. It’s completely up to you. But you have to know that the best programs at the best colleges are all incredibly competitive. And that means only the best candidates get in. Your job in high school is to demonstrate that you’re a rock star candidate so you can go where you want to go.

#2. Focus on your grades

Without a doubt, the most important requirement for getting into a top school is getting really good grades. And it’s not just getting good grades; it means getting really good grades in the hardest courses your school has available. Colleges are institutions of higher learning. They want students who thrive on academic challenges. The best way to prove that you’re college material is to ace college-level courses while you’re still in high school. And even if you don’t ace them (and get a few B’s, for example), just the fact that you challenged yourself with the toughest courses will speak volumes about your hunger for learning.

If you don’t think you can achieve a high GPA, you’re wrong. Yes, some courses will naturally be much more difficult for you. Some courses will force you to work five times harder than your classmates. Some courses will require you to join (or form) weekly study groups, meet every morning early with your teacher, and study twice as hard for tests. Do whatever it takes. That’s why you’re in school; to learn important life skills like planning, tenacity, problem-solving, collaborating, note-taking, etc. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to challenge you to grow as a person. If you develop strong study habits, it will help you throughout your life.

#3. Use your summers wisely

Don’t veg-out in the summer. Yes, you need a mental break like everyone else. But use some of your summer months to take some kind of educational enrichment program, or to start a small business, or to intern in an interesting field. This might take some research and planning, but your school’s guidance counselor (or a hired college consultant like us) can be an excellent source of info on these programs. These summer programs will not only enrich your life and help you grow as a person and meet friends, they will look spectacular on your college application. These experiences tell college admissions officers that you’re curious, you have initiative, and you’re growing as a person.

#4. Limit your extracurriculars to just 2 or 3 you really love

Most students think they have to pad their resume with endless activities. But the opposite is true. Competitive universities are looking for stand-out students. That means students who accomplish remarkable things. The only way to accomplish something extraordinary is to invest substantial time and effort into something. The classic phrase “the more you put in, the most you get out” comes to mind. So pick a select few activities that generally interest you, and pursue them to the best of your ability.

Don’t give up on them if they become hard or if you discover that you’re not a natural. It’s not about finding things that come easily to you. It’s about finding something that’s deeply meaningful to you, or that inspires you to push yourself out of your comfort zone. And keep pushing yourself and pursuing that activity with the goal of accomplishing something that you’re really proud of.

#5. Find a way to give back

One of the most rewarding things you can do in life is help someone else. We’re more or less designed that way as social animals. So find something like a social cause that strikes a chord with you, and try to figure out a way to deliver comfort or aid to someone else. It doesn’t matter what it is. Be creative. Think about what bothers you in today’s society, or what affects you personally. Become a champion of something greater than you, and come up with an ambitious project that may take a lot of work and effort, but is certainly within the realm of what you can accomplish. Then, set out to try to make it happen. All the things you’ll learn along the way about dreaming and planning and failing and picking yourself up again are the best life lessons of all.

Final Thoughts

A beginning is a wonderful time. And as a high school freshman, you have the rare opportunity to press “reset” on your life and start a brand new chapter. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go? The key to accomplishing anything in life is setting a few clear goals and sticking to a plan. 9 times out 10, that will take you exactly where you want to go, or close enough. The rest is up to you.