It may be too early for you to start driving if you’re only 11; it may be too early for you to read ‘War and Peace’ if you’re still in the 2nd grade; and it may be early for you to pick out your retirement home if you’re still in high school; but when it comes to planning for college, there’s really no such thing as too early. As underclassmen, you may think of college as a distant goal in the far away future but the time it takes to get there will fly by. It may not be time for you to start writing your admissions essay, but there are some things you can do to prepare. By the time you’re in high school you have a generally good idea about your strengths and weaknesses academically. The fact that you excel in math but are horrible in drama may not seem important on a daily basis, but thinking of things like this can help you visualize what college you want to attend in the future. You don’t have to start picking colleges yet but you can start thinking about which type of college you would want to attend be it a liberal arts college, a vocational college or maybe a community college. Also the underclassmen years are a great time to start building your resume. Getting involved at school early gives you a lot of options to choose from when you’re getting ready to send out your resume senior year. One final tip for underclassmen planning for college is to start putting money aside now. Whether you are working a full time job or maybe just doing babysitting when you have spare time saving up a portion of your earnings now could come in handy when you’re buying text books or meal plans in college. Remember, it’s never too early to plan for college!
