Is there anything I can do about college as a freshman? Just curious..

The very first thing you can do is do a self-assessment with a parent to determine where you fit as compared to your peers in the general application pool. You can do this by reviewing your academic transcripts, your statewide testing results, your level of athleticism, artistic talent, musical talent, intellectual curiosity outside of the classroom. What is your level of community service or volunteerism. Do you have a passion? Do you work part-time?

Academics - Are you an A, B, or C student, and what's your GPA

Testing - Where you rank in your state-wide testing. For US students they have to take 5th, 6th, and 8th-grade reading and writing tests so where do you fall under. 95% Percentile, 90th Percentile, 85% Percentile, 75th Percentile or less.

Athleticism - Do you play an individual sport and how good are you compared to your peers. Are you the star player on your team? Team Captain, Average Player, Less than Average Player.

Artistic Talent - Are you considered a gifted artist. Do you have great danceability? Do you take Ballet or Modern Dance.

Musical Talent - What instrument do you play? What is your skill level? Expert, Average, Beginner. Do you have vocal talent as a singer and what is your skill level?

Intellectual curiosity - Do you read a lot of books in your free time? Do you have a hobby like building robots or model rockets?

Passions - Are you an avid poet, baker, jewelry maker,

Work - Do you help in the family business? Do you babysit? Petsit? Tutor other children?

Volunteerism - Do you help out at your church or Girl or Boy scouts? Do you help out at the local food bank? Have you been involved in any community-based non-profit groups?

So do a self-assessment and keep track of all the areas in a notebook. These are your baseline scores. After reviewing them, make notes of whether you need to improve any of these over the next 2 to 3 years and write in your goals. They can be a simple as "running a 6-minute mile" or "winning the piano recital" or "self-publishing your book of poetry". These are your future goals so figure out a plan of how to get to the finish line of your goals.

You are going to be able to figure out some basic things about yourself as a 9th grader which will influence what you have to do for college. If you are Top student already, you know that you have to keep doing what you are doing but also prepare for completing the HS requirements for admittance into the top schools. So be on track to have 4 years of English, Maths, History, Language, and Sciences. Keep getting your As. The summer before 10th grade, I would take a look at the PSAT or Pre-ACT study books. You won't have to take these tests until beginning 10th grade and continuing into 11th grade. But I would not as the previous respondent suggested apply to community colleges or do any real SAT or ACT preparatory work.

It's less complicated if you are an average or below-average student. The best thing you can do is to fully engage in your high school. Show up, be kind and helpful and try your very best to pay attention to the lessons and don't get behind on your homework. Talk to your parents about making sure they understand that you are trying to be a better student and that you may need their help and support to get to your goals. If you need additional academic support, ask them and your teachers for available resources like peer-tutoring or after-school programs that can help you become a more competitive student.

Good Luck.

As a freshman you can start to plan what you want your high school story/narrative to be. Work hard in all your classes to ensure you get the best grades possible and join extracurriculars that you think you'll want to commit to. At collegevine we talk about how your ECs should be thematic, so what do you want your theme to be? Also we talk about having spikes in your ECs instead of being a Renaissance person sop to speak. What do you want to be really good at and really hone in on and how can you start towards that now as a freshman. Also as other people said, you can start doing dual enrollment pretty early on I high school. I know a bunch of people who did that who went to elite schools. Because you got your high school diploma and associates at the same time you are not applying as a transfer you just apply the same as a high school senior who had not done dual enrollment.

I am currently taking an associate's degree program. I am a sophomore now but I was a freshman when I started. Basically, I can get my diploma and my GED associates all online. That could be an option even if you don't get the whole associates you could get a couple of credits.

As a freshman, you don't need to worry about applying to a four-year school just yet, but you can start researching community colleges in your area. Community colleges are a great way to get some college experience and start on your degree in a fairly inexpensive way. You can look for AP courses to enroll in, take the ACT or SAT (it's never too early) and start taking ECs. However, in your freshman year, you don't really need to worry about a four-year school yet, unless you are planning to go to an Ivy League.