Guys - I'm kind of freaking out; no matter that Liv is turning two in a couple of weeks, but my sister just started her first year of high school this week. I was a teenager by the time my sister was born so I played a huge part in raising, and nothing makes me feel old at this time that the fact that we are having talks about college. In an effort to make my monster mild least help some of you who are pre-pre-med (ie high school!) Or consider the university, I wanted to do a post today about how to apply to college.
Most students do not do the actual application in college until the fall or winter of their senior year, but the planning and work towards this application is done well before! Here are some pointers to guide you throughout the process. I naturally throw the disclaimer that I applied to college a long time ago, so it's always a good idea to get the latest information from websites of schools of interest and your high school guidance counselor. I will also add, however, that sometimes your guidance counselor may not be the most reliable person to listen to, and you should always get advice and help from a number of mentors who can! I highly recommend this book and I'm having my sister to buy it - is about as complete as it gets when it comes to applying to college.
Most students do not do the actual application in college until the fall or winter of their senior year, but the planning and work towards this application is done well before! Here are some pointers to guide you throughout the process. I naturally throw the disclaimer that I applied to college a long time ago, so it's always a good idea to get the latest information from websites of schools of interest and your high school guidance counselor. I will also add, however, that sometimes your guidance counselor may not be the most reliable person to listen to, and you should always get advice and help from a number of mentors who can! I highly recommend this book and I'm having my sister to buy it - is about as complete as it gets when it comes to applying to college.
The first (and perhaps more difficult) thing to ask yourself is what you want out of college? Do you think you are pursuing nursing or engineering and get a job right out of college? Do you already have plans to get a master's degree or doctorate in art history and works for a museum? Want to go to medical school or law school? Depending on what you might want to do at the end, the type of school you choose to attend may vary. If you plan to work directly out of college, the name of the university and its network diploma really matter. Connections made through your school will be the connections you land your job. This usually means that the school aims for biggest name you can enter. Depending on how local, you want to stay, not to be a typical big name like Stanford or Yale, might simply be whatever "better" school is in your area and where many people in your field graduates. E 'useful to ask your guidance counselor or even the office of career development in the schools you're interested in to a list of alumna if you do not already have an idea. If you are going to continue higher education and application at school after college, your school graduation is still important, of course, but more weight will be placed on what you did in undergrad. I do not mean that students coming from well-known universities have an advantage when it comes to applying to graduate schools, but students from state schools and other lesser-known universities can still be just as effective when it comes to getting acceptances. Unfortunately, what a lot of this comes down to is what you can actually afford - but I always save financial matters for when you actually get accepted to the schools and then choose which one to go to. Never assume a school is out of your financial reach because of its price - many of the more expensive private schools also offer some of the best financial aid and scholarships.
Tiering your schools: "Security, target, and reach"
Once you have a better idea of what you want out of college (and hopefully not just include career goals, but also meet new people, exploring different cultures and backgrounds, trying to figure out who you are, etc.) you can start to come up with a rough list of schools you want to apply to. Before thinking about any limit you want to set for yourself - it's definitely a better idea not to set too many limits, but for many students who choose to be limited geographically. I applied only to universities in New England and I knew I did not want to be farther than a 2 hour drive away from home - that was a big priority for me, but I live in an area where within two hours did limit my options too drastically. Once you know your limits, you can start making your list several levels of schools. Discover admissions websites or guides that provide information about the applicant average accepted - what were their GPA and scores, like, did all participate extracurriculars, and if so what? Knowing this information allows you to get a rough idea of where you fall for the typical applicant admitted that the school - maybe your qualifications are better than average, this would be a school safety for you. Perhaps it fits the average applicant - in this case would be a school of destination. Or maybe it falls a little 'short of the average applicant - this would be a school flow. Some students do not like too many schools to add capacity to their list, but I think especially if you have unique circumstances or history, you really never know how a school will play your accomplishments and you should groped luck and do not sell yourself short.
Become a candidate competitive
GPA: GPA is probably what most students care about and the number of high school students who usually feel they call the most. It goes without saying that a high GPA becomes a more competitive candidate, but there are also a few things to keep in mind. For one, unlike in college where the difficulty course can never be taken by a stranger (ie, no one outside of the college know that BIO 263 is 100 times harder than BIO 279), high school courses are seen as a bit 'more standardized, at least when it comes to AP vs non-AP courses. Colleges like students who challenge themselves, so that a student with a 3.8, but all courses "easy" may not look as impressive as the student with a 3.65 and a handful of AP courses. Now, this does not mean that you should take in more than you can handle, but you should also be looking to challenge themselves. If we start from a school like mine, you can not have many options for AP courses, not a bit 'put you at a disadvantage, but it is hoped that your guidance counselor or a teacher who writes a letter of recommendation can share that information with your schools. The second thing to remember about GPA is the trend that counts. Upward trend is the tendency schools want to see. I almost failed the first year because I was not taking seriously the school. Because of my grades that year I would never be able to bring my cumulative GPA up to something great, even if I had straight 4.0s for the next three years. And I had no right to 4.0s, but certainly done better every year, and it was always 4.0s from the third year.
SAT score: I know least about it has changed so much since I got it. I would like to refer the books on this. Safe to say that you want to score as high as possible, but there are many schools that no longer even require the SAT for admission (Smith - my university - I'm one of them). Recognize the bias and the difference in opportunities facing many students as standardized tests and how can it not be the best indicators of success.
Extracurriculars: Everyone (or almost anyone) can get great grades, when all they have to do is courses. But even if you are playing sports and writing for the newspaper, you are showing the schools that you can balance and have interests outside of your courses, the interest that you could potentially go to college (and thus contribute to their universities)! Now, keep an open mind when it comes to extracurriculars - literally means what to do outside of the curriculum. Because of my responsibilities at home (for example, taking care of my sister and other things at home), I never played sports. I actually never participated in anything requiring regular time commitments outside of normal school hours. But I was active in the National Honor Society (and eventually was president), our Acapella choir, and I can not remember much else. You have to do everything, but you should have at least one extracurricular that you can show you were really involved in a decent chunk of time and to show the commitment and some useful contribution.
Staff: Do not underestimate whatever your personal story is. We all have a story, stories influence what we can do in high school and our perception of "success" a little 'more than others. Use your personal statement as a place to touch some of that - does not make it a sob story or a place excuses, but simply bringing it to the attention not allow any circumstances to be discussed later, if you are invited for an interview (or at least provide some basic information for the numbers to be interpreted with).
I hope this helps to get a start to think college! Later I can maybe do a post on college visits and interviews that will last years! Let me know what else you guys want me to discuss (if anything), this definitely is not my area of "expertise" more, but I still remember being there!
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