Caught in the Middle
By Tommy Kruecker-Green and Isabella Yan
STAFF WRITERS
As sophomores, our view of the future oscillates between daydreams and despair. One moment we envision delivering valedictorian speeches and accepting awards in our dream career. In the next, we sink into the uncertainty of plotting life trajectories without a map or compass. Who will I become? Can I afford college? What if I never figure out what career inspires me?
Interviews with tenth graders led to a general consensus: our school could do more in sophomore year to help students prepare for their futures. Counselors and teachers often devote the most attention to freshmen adjusting to high school and upperclassmen applying to college. Sophomores inhabit an awkward middle ground—no longer wide-eyed but not ready to prepare ourselves for graduation’s looming deadline.
From the school’s perspective, limited career advising for sophomores prevents overburdening students and counselors alike. With over a hundred students apiece, counselors prioritize helping those most in need of support. “[Sophomores] are not as needy as a group,” explained counselor Jayne Jones. “You are not applying to college right now, you are not creating a college list, you are not needing a recommendation per se… Sophomores are just sort of left a little bit because they can be left.”
This is a fair point. However, what we choose to participate in during sophomore year holds much greater weight given today’s ultra-competitive admissions landscape. With more students applying for limited spots at top institutions, colleges increasingly seek evidence of commitment and leadership from prospective applicants’ earliest high school years. Admission officers don’t expect us to have life figured out at fifteen or sixteen, but they want signs we’re purposefully sampling activities aligned with our emerging strengths and passions. The stakes feel uncomfortably high for sophomores who are simply hoping to discover their interests, and the hard truth is that involving ourselves with the “right” organizations now can make or break our candidacy down the road. As anxious as it makes students to strategize so far ahead, not scoping out extracurricular opportunities with admissions checkboxes in mind means losing a prime chance to build the “hook” that gets us noticed from the overflowing stacks of applications.
It is because of this intense pressure that sophomores feel they need more personalized guidance on extracurriculars and future planning. Sophomore Eva Nguyen summarized the common sentiment: “Counselors can do more to open up the door to students for discussion about their futures.”
A lack of early career planning is felt especially strongly by sophomores Pranav Yadla and Noor Bhatti, who come from immigrant families without experience with the American college system.
“I have no idea what colleges want; I didn’t even know what the process was, [so] I had to find it out myself,” said Yadla. Like many students with immigrant parents, his parents received a college education outside the U.S. where there is a completely different admission system.
Over the last few decades, college admissions in the United States have changed tremendously, including significantly higher tuition and changes to general application expectations. These are critical factors that sophomores who intend to attend college should begin to consider.
In a maze of unfamiliar requirements, many sophomores whose parents “don’t know anything” turn to outside sources such as advice from college friends, the internet, or even private college counselors. But, astronomical costs put the latter out of reach for most. Somehow, students from families new to America must solve a complex puzzle missing half the pieces.
More robust sophomore advising would benefit every tenth grader. But this could overburden the already strained counseling department. Perhaps the answer lies in empowering students to self-organize the guidance lacking from formal administration sources. Students could lead group discussions on college essay writing, scholarship opportunities, or lessons learned from older siblings now in college. Retired teachers may volunteer to moderate these student gatherings and offer their advice.
For students from immigrant families, group sessions could help decipher unfamiliar aspects of American college prep: differences in application timelines and requirements between the U.S. and other countries, a breakdown of key standardized tests like the SAT, or nuts and bolts overviews detailing how financial aid functions here. These sessions don’t need a lot of funding—they could operate on a shoestring budget or by student volunteers.
Until we start troubleshooting ways to do more with less, sophomores will continue to be caught in the middle, dangling between childhood dreams and adult decisions. Like trapeze artists without a net, we twist anxiously in the space between launch and catch. The time has come for schools to position the mesh—a safety net of supportive guidance.
