Most high schools and parents operate under the assumption that 9^th and 10^th grade are an appropriate time for their child to adapt to the experiences, academic demands, and social reality of life as a teenager in high school. Conventional wisdom portrays 9^th and 10^th grade as an intermission period where teenagers sow their oats, make some mistakes, and learn what it takes to be successful in high school. College admissions staffs, such conventional wisdom portends, focus much more heavily on the second half of high school, 11^th and 12^th grades. While there is a grain of truth in that perception, further examination makes obvious the folly of such an idea.

One-half of your child’s high school record will be completed by the end of 10^th grade. If you believe that college admissions staffs simply throw out or even downplay 50% of an applicant’s academic and extracurricular portfolio, then you are a tad removed from reality. Let me take you one step further along in the admission process to fully illuminate this misguided thinking.

Your child will likely be sending off college applications in the fall of 12^th grade. Your child’s application will therefore be reviewed in the fall and winter of his or her 12^th grade year. Thus, when your child’s application is reviewed, college admissions staffs will only possess information pertaining to your child’s performance through the first semester of 12^th grade. In most cases, however, admission staffs don’t see any 12^th grade records.

Far more often than not, high schools do not send off 12^th grade, first semester grades in time for receipt and review by college admissions staffs prior to offering acceptances. In fact, during my tenure as an admissions committee member at Northwestern University and the University of Virginia, nearly every admission decision was made without 12^th grade academic reports in hand. If you were to believe conventional wisdom that 9^th and 10^th grade don’t count much, then you would be saying that college admissions decisions are mostly made on the basis of one year of high school performance, 11^th grade. What tomfoolery!?

So, knowing now that 9^th and 10^th grade do in fact count heavily in college admissions decisions, let me reveal the most powerful secret in college admissions. The secret is that 9^th and 10^th grade performance do not make up one-half of your child’s college admissions portfolio, they actually make up two-thirds!

Again, remember that nearly all admissions decisions are made on the basis of performance through the end of 11^th grade. Thus, 9^th and 10^th grade make up two of the three years of performance that college admissions personnel will see when they make a decision on your child’s application. Do you understand now?

Now that the secret is out, your family has a leg up on 99% of the students and families in America. Most will continue to imagine that 9^th and 10^th grade performance is a small factor in college admissions. You know the secret, now what are you going to do with it?

There is but one answer to that question. You must pull your child aside immediately and make a plan for academic and extra-curricular success that begins immediately. You must not waste any time. You must take advantage of the insider information you have and help your child gain admission at the college of his or her dreams.

If your child starts from day one of 9^th grade with a well-developed plan for success (click here to see Dr. Shumsky’s 4-year blueprint for college admission success), then there is no limit to the heights your son or daughter can attain. Admission to any college in America will be within reach. Here’s why: Every family in America believes that 11^th grade counts big time in admissions decisions, so they will do their best to arrange for a stand-out 11^th grade year. Nearly every middle class high school student will wake up to the fact that college is just around the corner from 11^th grade and will work harder than ever to create top grades and activities. By waiting until 11^th grade to get serious about the future, these families have severely restricted their child’s college options. You will not make such a mistake.

You may or may not know that success in college admissions today most often springs from special talents. Those students who are stand-outs intellectually, athletically, and/or artistically have their pick of college choices including the most competitive and prestigious universities in the country.

If your child does not possess elite talents in the arts, sports, or academic disciplines, then he or she needs to get to work immediately on exploring interests, future career paths, and ways to stand out from the crowd by broadening his or her life experiences.

Today’s college admissions staffs do not prize athletics, clubs, arts ensembles, and community service unless your child has elite talent or goes way above and beyond the norm. Instead they look for applicants who push their interests and curiosities as far as possible with depth and consistency over all years of high school.

Do not waste your child’s time with resume padding. Get to work today on helping your child discover what engages and challenges him or her. If your child stands out from the crowd from 9^th grade forward, then he or she will be a highly qualified applicant to every college in America.