Advice for Prospective (and current!) College Students

1. Finding the right college. Picking out the perfect college amongst the hundreds of college options may seem impossible, but countless high school seniors have succeeded. If you haven't started looking for colleges by the middle of your junior year, it is time to start.
   
   Not sure how to start looking for colleges? A great way to start is by searching online. Several online quizzes exist that will help narrow down the search to colleges that meet your criteria.
   
   Additionally, talk to your teachers and guidance counselors about your college options. If your high school has a college admission fair, or if any college representatives hold informational meetings at your high school, definitely make sure to attend. Check your local area for college fairs as well.
   
   Once you have a list of colleges that you think might be for you, start gathering more information on them. Visit their individual websites and study their programs, majors, activities, etc. If you are particularly interested in writing for the newspaper, check out their newspaper. If you still think it is right for you, try to schedule a visit.
   
   
2. Application Preparation. Before you go any further, buy yourself a nice sized calendar or planner. Trust me, you are going to need it to keep track of all of the deadlines. Next, for each college you plan on applying to, make a list of requirements and deadlines. Do they require the ACT? SAT? SAT IIs? Do they require an essay and, if so, is it based on a specific topic? What about recommendations?
   
   If you need recommendations, make sure to give your teacher (or guidance counselor) plenty of time. Remember, they are doing it as a favor to you. Plus, you want them to be in a good mood when they write it! Two weeks is the absolute minimum.



3. The Application. Most colleges now offer online applications. While you may think that the college admission officers prefer paper applications, most actually prefer online applications. Online applications eliminate the need to decipher handwriting. In fact, many colleges waive the application fee for those who apply online as a way of encouraging applicants to use the online version.
   
   Many colleges also participate in the Common Application. As its name suggests, the Common Application (http://www.commonapp.org/) is a single application that can be filled out online and sent to multiple colleges. However, some colleges still require supplemental materials or forms. If you are planning to use the Common Application, do not forget to check the requirements for the college you are applying to.



4. The Interview. Very few colleges require an interview, but many colleges give you the option. When it is optional, choosing to not schedule an interview will not be counted against you. However, if conducted well, an interview can really increase your chance of being accepted. An interview is an opportunity for you to show a college that you are serious about being admitted and allows someone from the college to get a better sense of who you are.
   If you are unable to schedule an interview, or if you feel that an interview would be disadvantageous to you, try to find another way to express your interest. It is important for the college admissions officers to feel that you are serious about attending their college. A simple phone call to the admissions department with a relevant concern or question can do the trick.

Rolling Admissions - Colleges with rolling admissions accept applications within a given time period and review files as they are received. This means that acceptance (and rejection) letters are mailed out continuously as applicants are constantly being reviewed. This means that there are more spaces available at the beginning, but less towards the final deadline because many spaces will have already been filled. Thus, you should apply early in order to enhance your chance of being accepted.

Early Decision (ED) - Many schools offer an early decision option. If you apply early decision, your application is generally due sometime in November. Since you apply early, you receive notification of your acceptance or rejection early as well. Early decision is binding, meaning that if you apply Early Decision you are promising to go to that particular school if accepted. Once you are notified of your acceptance, you are required to withdraw your name from any other schools you might have applied to. Also, you are only allowed to apply as an early decision applicant to ONE school. However, if you are not accepted through the early decision process you are released from your binding agreement and free to apply to other schools as a regular admissions applicant.

Early Action (EA) - Early action is an increasingly popular option. Unlike early decision, early action is not binding. It has all the advantages of applying early decision (you get to apply early and thus find out before the regular decision applicants if you are accepted or not) but does not restrict you from applying for other colleges as well.

"Now that you are ready to begin, take a deep breath and proceed slowly. Taking your time will help cut down on the amount of mistakes you make."

Once you've decided on a few colleges that you feel are right for you, it is time to start filling out the applications. It is best to start these as early as feasibly possible. As your senior year progresses, you will only find yourself having less and less free time. Between preparing for graduation and studying for exams, you will most likely find that your time is stretched to the max.

The first thing you need to do is double check to ensure that you have printed off all the forms each college requires you to fill out. If you do not wish to print out the paper application, you can usually request for the college to send you a paper application through the mail. To guarantee that the forms for each college do not get mixed up, you should find a way to separate them. Using clips or folders works fine, but feel free to devise your own method.

Next, you will want to make multiple copies of each application. If you are using the paper version of the common application, you will still want to make additional copies. White out is an easy solution to mistakes, but it often looks sloppy. A neat and tidy application will help you stand out in the admission process. Keep extra copies for the mistakes you will most likely make.

Before grabbing a pen, check to see if the application specifies what color of ink to use. A lot of colleges prefer black ink to blue, and some strictly prohibit the use of certain pens and ink colors. If possible, keep track of the pen you start with. Most pens have different shades of blue or black, and while using various pens on your application will by no means keep you from being accepted, consistency gives your application a polished appearance and will reflect well on the overall time and effort you put into your application.

Now that you are ready to begin, take a deep breath and proceed slowly. Taking your time will help cut down on the amount of mistakes you make.

Your application is your time to shine. Keep this in mind when answering questions pertaining to extracurricular activities and other accomplishments. If you wrote articles for the newspaper for four years and held the position of editor-in-chief your senior year, do not forget to include your position as editor-in-chief.

If you were a member of your school's community service club, do not just list it by name. Help the admissions officers understand the extent of your involvement. For instance, if you helped direct and organize a drive for a local shelter-tell them.

If there's limited space available for extracurricular activities or sports, list the ones most important to you. Unless they specifically say not to, you can always include a resume with your application to expand on the information you put on the application itself.

Once you believe you are finally finished, look over the application again. Then, give it to someone else for review. They will be able to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes and identify mistakes you might have accidentally overlooked. If possible, have a couple people review it. Friends, family members, and teachers all make great proofreaders. Fix any problems or complete any missing information and then have someone proofread it once more.

Finally, before you place your application in an envelope, make a copy of each and every page. In the event that your application never makes it to the college, you will have a backup copy.

Once you have finished making copies, place it in an envelope, either one provided to you by the college or a business sized envelope, and double check to guarantee that the address is correct. Check with the post office about its weight to make certain that you have used enough postage before mailing it.

Paper applications are not for everyone-especially for those with sloppy handwriting. But for those that prefer paper to online versions, making the effort necessary to produce a tidy and mistake-free paper application is a must. Following the steps above will help you ensure that you application is readable and ready on time.

This last semester, I paid a small fortune for my textbooks. I thought I was lucky because my books didn't cost quite as much as what I had expected. I chose to get my textbooks from the school bookstore partly because I thought it would be more convenient but also because I like to have books free of excessive underlining and highlighting.

Second semester, I used my school's online bookstore to find the names and prices of the books I needed. Not only did I need twice as many books, but the cost had doubled as well. Instead of automatically ordering them from the school, I decided to seek other avenues for purchasing my textbooks.

In the end, I chose Amazon because I'm used to shopping at Amazon. Instead of buying directly from Amazon, I bought each book from a different merchant on Amazon. Even with shipping, I saved over $100. Furthermore, I was wrong in assuming that ordering used books online would mean that I would be forced to sacrifice quality--all of the books I received were in fantastic condition. They were used, but they were " like new" so you couldn't even tell that they were used books.

Other students from my school use websites such as Book Byte, Direct Textbooks, and Textbookx. I haven't tried any of them yet, but it is nice to know that there are other options than Amazon just in case there comes a time when I cannot find what I need on Amazon.com.

If you are currently enrolled in college and getting ready to buy your books for next semester, I highly encourage you to check out either Amazon.com or another seller before purchasing from your bookstore. If your bookstore is like mine, they will still let you sell back your book at the end of the semester-even if you didn't buy from there. Perhaps you will even MAKE money in the end%u2026?

1. Chose your class times wisely. If you know you are not a morning person, schedule your classes for after 10 am and skip the early morning classes!


2. Choose great professors!. Before picking a class, look up the professor on ratemyprofessors.com to see what others have to say about him or her. If your school has professor evaluations you can look at online, take a peek at those too. The difference between a class with a good professor and a bad professor is huge.


3. Use an organizer / planner. In college, you'll have a lot of deadlines both in the immediate future and in the distance. Forgetting just one assignment can ruin your grade and using a planner makes it easier to keep track of deadlines.

Over Christmas break, I took part in an alumni panel at the high school I graduated from. Every year, my former English teacher holds the alumni panel so that the current seniors have the opportunity to hear first-hand advice from last year's seniors. A lot of great advice got tossed around during the panel. Throughout the course of the day, all of us experienced a bit of disorientation and touches of deja vu as we repeated the same stories and lines over again at each session. In that respect, I earned additional appreciation for teachers as they have to go through the day teaching the same lesson countless times.

Anyways, as I mentioned, a lot great advice and tidbits of information was given during the panel. I feel as though it is advice that all high school students should have the opportunity to hear and therefore I have decided to share it. I'm sure all of it has been said before and those of you who are going to be attending college soon might be sick of hearing it but I wanted to share it anyways just in case.

1. When I was in high school, I knew what my grades were at all times. Not only my overall class grades, but also my grades on my individual assignments. The last two years of high school we had access to an online system, parent connect, which allowed me to see all of my grades at any given moment from any computer with internet access. All teachers were required to update the grade information weekly. In college, however, I rarely knew any of my grades. I never knew my grade for the class, let alone my grades on individual assignments. Without knowing how I was doing, it was rather difficult to calculate how well I could do on future assignments to maintain an acceptable grade as I didn't even know whether my present grade was acceptable. If you are unsure of how you are doing in a class...go to your professors office hours. Don't be afraid-that's what their office hours are for.

2. If you are going to college, live on campus your freshman year. Personally, I would recommend living on campus, or at least in campus facilities (ie: campus apartments, etc) at least two years. But if you are only going to do one year of on-campus living, live there your freshman year. I promise you that it will make a world of difference. It adds to the entire college experience. College IS more than just the classes. It's your LIFE. Living on campus makes meeting people 100 times easier, plus you will automatically be placed in the center of campus life. Getting involved will come naturally and you'll be surrounded by a world of activities. Trust me, it's worth it.

3. Try not to procrastinate. I know, for those who procrastinate it sounds impossible. I'm not saying that you will always manage to do things in advance, but make an effort to try more than you did before. In high school, putting assignments off was a lot easier than it is going to be in college. Have a big test coming up? Try studying three or four days in advance to save you from having to pull an all-nighter. In the end, you'll get more sleep, feel more relaxed, have more free time, and get better grades.

4. Even if you haven't been outgoing in the past, try to step outside your comfort zone and be a little more assertive. A lot of time in college is spent outside of your comfort zone. After all, you have just been thrown into a completely new environment. But if you lock yourself up in your room and never meet anyone other than your roommate, college isn't going to be much of an adventure. Remember, college is a fresh start. Nobody cares what kind of a person you had been labeled in high school. You get to be YOU.

5. Apply for as many scholarships as possible. A lot of people pass up scholarships that are only offering $100 to $300, but small amounts can quickly add up and some free money is better than none. Keep in mind that smaller amounts, such as $200, can almost cover your books for the semester.

6. If there's still time, go on a few more college visits. Even if you have always planned on attending a certain college make an effort to visit other campuses. Don't rule anything out until you have seen all of the other options. I know of several people who were positive they knew which college they were meant for and didn't take the time to explore other options. After a semester at what they thought was supposed to be the college of their dreams, they realized that it wasn't the college for them at all. It just wasn't a good match. Just don't close the door on your other options until you have reviewed them with an open-mind.

That's it for now ;) There was a lot more discussed at the panel but this post is getting a little lengthy so I think I'll save it for another time!

Happy college hunting!