College Life
5 Ways To Thrive During Your Sophomore Year of College
Freshman year has come and gone. Maybe you’ve found a niche in your college’s social spheres.
Maybe you’ve spent the last year discovering yourself and putting academics on the backburner. And that’s great — but sophomore year changes things.
Many colleges require students to declare their major during sophomore year, and that’s usually when things change from carefree to serious.
To help with the next step of your college experience, here’s a list of five helpful things every college sophomore should do during this college year.
1. Get In Contact with Potential Major Advisors
Considering how important your major will be throughout the rest of your tenure at college, getting to know the members of whatever department you’re thinking about majoring in is a great place to start.
Having a good advisor is a huge help in college, as their another resource to draw on, whether the issue is debating the merits of a certain class or balancing your transcript.
Additionally, many students form a close bond with their advisors which can survive even beyond your time as a student.
Getting to know the people who you might want to ask to be your advisor is a great place to start before making the decision.
And don’t worry about it if you don’t end up liking whoever you select — most colleges allow you to change your advisor if you feel like you two aren’t a perfect fit.
2. Learn About Your College’s Career Services Center
Many colleges offer some variation on a career services department whose whole job is to help students find jobs, build resumes, and prepare for entering the working world upon graduation.
While many freshmen neglect these services, sophomore year is a great time to begin using this incredible resource you have access to.
Even if you have no idea what kind of job you’d be interested in having, your career services center can help you learn what kind of opportunities are available in any given field or for your major after graduation and help you form a plan to achieve whatever goals you’re aiming for.
Whether you have no idea where to start or have a twelve-point plan ready to go, Career Services is an underutilized resource that any sophomore should absolutely take advantage of.
3. Begin Looking Into Internships & Jobs
Building off the prior tip, sophomore year is a great time to begin finding internships and jobs to fill in your resume.
While it may seem like you’ve still got plenty of time to begin getting work experience, as you continue forward in your college career the demands classes put on you are only going to get steeper, meaning the earlier you start the easier time you’ll have balancing your schedule later on.
Additionally, many potential employers will look at your resume to see how you spent your time in college and any experience you gain will be a definite benefit.
Internships also provide a foot in the door and, fairly often, an offer of full-time employment.
Regardless, work experience is great to have and sophomore year is a great time to start getting it.
4. Take Classes Outside of Your Normal Range
Maybe you spent freshman year taking whatever classes looked interesting, or steadily hitting requirements for graduation, or a mishmash of the two.
Regardless, sophomore year is a great time to put yourself out there and take courses that you normally never would.
A big part of what makes college such a wonderful experience is the ability to broaden your horizons and meet new and interesting people.
That extends to classes.
Taking, say, an intro dance course, or a history of African folklore, or an examination of feminist inquiry is a fantastic way to gain a new perspective on the world and, quite possibly, discover a new passion.
5. Attend Networking Events
With the COVID-19 pandemic still in full effect, this has become a bit harder, but networking is still an essential skill to learn and sophomore year is a great time to start.
Many colleges host events specifically for students to put out feelers into the professional world, like Skidmore College’s Career Jam, which “brings parents, alumni, and students together for conversation around a topic on every student’s mind: careers” according to their official website.
Even with the coronavirus, many schools are still offering these events virtually.
They’re a great way to network with other students and alums, or simply get a better idea of what the professional world looks like and what you might want your place in it to be.
Sophomore year is a huge benchmark in your college experience, where you really start laying the groundwork for the rest of your time at college and even beyond, including entering the working world.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s harder and harder to plan for a future that’s so uncertain.
Hopefully, these tips will help you put your best foot forward as you continue onward into the next stage of your life as a college student.
