Upper School
Tips for 9th and 10th Grades
Academics
Don’t just focus on the areas that come easy to you—if you challenge yourself by taking classes outside your comfort zone, you’ll learn valuable skills for college, and become a better thinker.
Figure out how much you need to study for each subject, and do it.
Grades 9-11 are the ones that will be analyzed on your transcript. Every trimester is a chance to show your best effort.
Colleges understand the difficulty of the curriculum at The Bush School, and factor that in when they look at your transcript; on the other hand, no matter what school you attend, you’re expected to perform to the best of your abilities as you build your high school record.
If possible, stay in math classes for your entire four years in the Upper School, and take at least three years of lab sciences.
College admission officers look at trends in grades—an upward trend tells a positive story, even if you don’t feel like you started off strongly.
Get to know your teachers and learn how to talk with them about the things you’re studying. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or clarification! The more comfortable you become with your teachers now, the more successful you will be in your classes, and in college—your professors will expect you to work with them and to take control of your own learning process.
Take notes in class—you will need to develop this valuable skill before you enter college, and it will improve your understanding and recall of material now.
Keep up with your homework and all required reading. Turn assignments in on time.
Consistent effort and a demonstrated love of learning always pay off in the end—and they win out over half-hearted effort and talent without follow-through every time.
Extracurricular Activities
Through AMPs, community service, academic coursework, athletics, music, art, publications, clubs and other outlets at The Bush School, you have the chance to discover new passions. Take risks, find something you really love, and invest as much of yourself in it as you can.
Colleges care much more about the quality of your extracurricular involvement than the quantity of activities.
Use your summers to explore new activities and enrich yourself in whatever way appeals to you.
Community service is valuable, but like anything else, if it’s done to check off a box or pad a resume, it will not be especially meaningful to a college admission committee.
"Purchased" opportunities are not particularly valuable to college admission officers if they are not related to a larger theme of a passion or ability you have pursued throughout high school.
Your activities, if meaningful-- and the perspective you gain from them-- are a key element in distinguishing you as a candidate for a college.
Community Life
Be nice to everyone you encounter in the community, and show your appreciation to those who help you along the way. It will make your life happier and you’ll make things easier for yourself.
Speak up in class— participating actively in class helps your understanding, your peers’ understanding, and helps your teachers understand your relationship with the material, so that they can help you learn effectively. You’ll also need to ask for teacher recommendations, and the more active, cooperative and positive you are, the better and more detailed their letters can be.
Don’t jeopardize your future by taking risky, inappropriate, or illegal actions. Think twice and take a moment to think if you feel like you are about to step over the line. It’s a lot easier to focus on the positives when you fill out an application than to have to explain a red flag (like suspension, expulsion or arrest) on your personal or academic record—these things are highlighted in the applications and school reports.
Standardized Testing
Don’t concern yourself with college entrance tests until 11th grade.
The best preparation for standardized tests is to work through practice tests from a book in a timed, controlled environment. Figure out which areas are consistently causing problems, and work on them.
Expensive test preparation courses and tutors are not worth the resulting score improvements—you can get the same results with independent study, without losing valuable time for studying and extracurricular activities.
Test scores are less important in the big picture than the quality of your curriculum and performance in the classroom—as reflected by teacher comments, grades, and the knowledge you can articulate. Your class work and activities should always be the priorities in your schedule, not test preparation.
General Advice
Read! Read often and read widely—read as much as you can from different sources (fiction, non-fiction, daily newspapers, magazines, etc). Reading is the best preparation for everything from writing to standardized tests, and it expands your knowledge of the world and understanding of events.
Always give your best effort in all your classes and in all endeavors at Bush.
The more you understand yourself, your strengths and the things that excite you, the better prepared you’ll be for finding and applying to the right colleges.
In every situation, think about your actions and how they affect others.
Don’t listen to opinions about college that come in the form of gossip or speculation from your friends and others—keep an open mind, and when the time comes you will have plenty of great resources to help you find the right fit.
Take time to enjoy your years in the Upper School and your friends here!