If you dream of becoming a doctor or the next Darwin, Pasteur, or Mendel, you’re probably at least a little bit interested in biology. Maybe you just know that you’re interested in STEM and want to explore biology or some other STEMy topics a little bit more before you commit. You have come to the right place because we are going to discuss how to explore your potential major as a sophomore.
And no, sophomore year is not too early to start thinking about college and strategizing for admissions. Biology is a really competitive major at almost every single college, especially within the Ivy League and top-tier colleges, which means that you need to have done some work before getting to college to prove that this is something you’re actually interested in. Colleges want to see that you have a niche and that you’ve explored it and taken the steps to realize your goals.
Sophomore year is the perfect time to start. Today, we are going to talk a little bit about how we help our sophomore clients explore biology, not just to help with the college admissions process but to determine if they’re truly passionate about it.
Identifying the Niche
It’s not enough to apply undecided to college anymore, especially if you’re looking at top-tier schools. It’s also not enough to just say biology!!!!! and not have any evidence to back that up. We work with students one-on-one to understand what they’re actually interested in and what draws them towards biology. Bio is a super broad field, in fact, we were looking at a Wikipedia page about subfields in biology, and we had to scroll quite a bit, aka, there are so many different things you could explore, from genetics to ecology to astrobiology.
Our goal is to take our clients from something really broad like bio, down a step deeper to something like ecology, down even deeper to something like cognitive ecology. Identifying this niche may take some time, but it’s crucial to start now to make the most impact on your applications.
Classes and Books
How can you start identifying your niche? Well, you gotta learn about it. We create a personalized curriculum of books and online classes to help you figure out exactly what you’re interested in. You may start with some broad intro to biology content, and then, after you tell us what you really liked about those books and classes, we recommend things that take you to that deeper level.
We know, you’re probably not super jazzed about the idea of extra homework BUT this is homework that really matters. If this is what you want to study in college, and eventually turn into a career, you need to make sure you’re actually really excited about it.
Extracurriculars
The next step we start working on (and not even next, these things are happening concurrently) is building out an extracurricular profile. A meaningful extracurricular profile. We don’t want you to load up on things that don’t actually pertain to what you wanna do, and we also don’t think you need to stuff your résumé with things that you think look impressive. We know what actually looks impressive and help you do those things.
There are extracurriculars inside of school and outside of school. Inside of school, you might join the bio club, be active in science fairs, or start even more niche clubs around maybe your subpassion for zoology or genetics. Outside of school, activities are going to be a lot more important, those are things like independent projects, internships, and research with professors. it’s important to remember that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to these extracurriculars, and while we would love to list out every single option, this is a personalized process that is tailored to each student. And don’t worry, we help you through every step.
Summer Plans
Summer is, hands-down, the most important part of your college prep. It’s the largest block of uninterrupted time you have to explore your passion for biology. We know some of you bristle at the idea of not vegging out on the couch, but we promise this is worth it.
Just like extracurriculars, summer is tailored to each student and their interests. One way we help students, especially sophomores, add meaningful experiences to their summers is through summer programs. Most top-tier colleges offer pre-college programs, some of which are broad intro-level stuff and some more in-depth college-level classes on specific topics. Summer programs also help to demonstrate interest in colleges you are interested in.
However, you can’t just log a ton of summer programs and call it a day, you also need to have some self-motivated activities in your summer to help provide proof of interest in bio. We may help you find and apply to internships and paid jobs, or help you reach out to professors to try and get a coveted research position. We can also help you brainstorm and start independent research projects.
Sophomore year is simply the best time to start. It gives you enough time to get really in-depth into your topic of choice, and it gives you enough time to figure out if that’s what you’re interested in and switch gears if it’s not.
If you want to start strategizing for college, sophomore year is the best time to start. Reach out to us today if you need help with your college prep plans.