In your freshman year, proactivity was emphasized.

Purpose and strategy were also important as you made certain life decisions, some more crucial than others. However, as you proceed further, the deliberate nature with which you must tread the path toward graduate school will become even more important.

Mistakes made during freshman year can be learned from and moved beyond. However, mistakes made during the sophomore, junior and senior years may have more of a deleterious impact on your ability to choose among graduate schools during your senior year. Thus, when deciding what courses to take, who to study with and who to build professional relationships with, be deliberate and be cognizant of the costs and benefits of each decision.

This is far easier in theory than in practice, but well thought-out decisions made now can save a lot time and energy later.