<p>I happened to do an insane amount of research when it came to researching colleges, the application process, and admissions. So I thought it would be cool to post a thread surmising everything that helped me through the process. KEEP IN MIND THAT IM 17, so some of this advice may not be pertinent, take it as a grain of salt,and hopefully it will be helpful. </p>
<p>FINDING COLLEGES Ooh this can be real fun or a real pain, it all depends on how you approach. I took the hands on approach starting in sophomore year, but towards the middle of junior year start thinking about where you want to go. Use various resources, this site is a great start, collegeboard, magazines, friends, parents, and guidance counselors are all helpful. DONT BIND YOURSELF DOWN TO A SET LIST EARLY. Keep looking for colleges even through senior year. My list changed drastically, going from 20 something colleges to 5 and then up to 9. Also VISIT THE COLLEGE IF POSSIBLE. Visting really helps, it gives you something that brochures can't. You may find that you hate a college that you previously may have liked, or fell in love with another college that you would never have considered applying to. REACH SCHOOLS AREN'T THE PERFECT FIT. I thought Cornell was perfect for me, and though I had a reasonble chance there, once I visited the campus I found that I'd probally kill myself if I went there. Well not really, but the enviroment didn't suit me. Remember you're spending four years of your life, so want to be in an enviroment that you will enjoy and not be miserable with. When you visit colleges, keep an open mind, and don't start comparing it to other colleges till the visit is over, otherwise your impression will be heavily biased. </p>
<p>Whats the number of colleges you should apply to? Thats up to you, my gc suggested 3 but that really doesn't leave room for choice. On average apply to to a few reaches, 2-3, a few matches 2-4, and a minimum of two safeties, ONE FINANCIAL SAFETY AND ONE ACADEMIC SAFTEY. Another thing there is NO HARM IN APPLYING, so if there's that crazy ivy you want to apply to, go for it. A 10% chance of admission is a hell of lot better than 0% if were not to apply at all. </p>
<p>*Senior CourseLOAD * Key word LOAD, don't skimp out senior year. Take the most challenging course load available. Don't kill yourself, but make it challenging, colleges want to see that you are a hard worker. So take as many APs and Honors courses you can handle. Also START HIGH, its mucher easier to say take an AP course and find you can't handle it and drop down to a lower level course, than its to take a regular course find its too easy and then try to be placed into a higher level course.
MAKE YOUR OWN OPPURTUNITIES. If you go to an urban school with less APs or no APs take the most challenging courseload and tell colleges you are doing so. In my case, my school only offered 3 APs, and a handful of honors. So I took two aps of the three and as many honors courses as possible. But I knew this would screw me over, so I wanted to show colleges that I had the ACADEMIC INITIATIVE. I took 5 college courses spread out through junior and senior year from a local four year college and aced them. I did some research over the summer and sought to always to for ways to challenge myself. When nothing was avaible I created my own oppurtunites, called colleges, took courses, and researched. YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN SITUTATION no matter how adverse, so do your best in them. Circumstances are the rulers of the weak and instruments of the wise. </p>
<p>APPYLING TO COLLEGE What joy, essays, applications, midyear reports, recs, and list keeps on going. Most people hate apps, don't lie you know they are tedious. So ITS A GOOD IDEA TO FINISH YOUR APPS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. I had all of mine finished in November, which really freed up time. Also DONT APPLY ON THE DEADLINE IF POSSIBLE. Give yourself at least two weeks buffer room, and send it out a week prior to the deadline. If you are applying ED or EA, finish the rest of your apps the same time, it has two benefits. First, less work for later on, you know don't put off what you can do today for tommorow, and second it allows you to build a relationship with college. Between sumbmitting your application and getting admissions notice, you have a few months in between. During this time call up the collleges, talk to admissions, email proffessors, visit, and show interest. It really helps in admissions, since the colleges get to know you beyond your social security number. One thing that really helped me was emailing proffesors and students directly rather than going through admissions. First you build bridges and second, you get a better image of the college.
WRITE GOOD ESSAYS. Beyond your number and stats, you are like every other applicant in the pool, a faceless piece of paper. Thats where your essay comes in, in many cases it can make or break you. Writting a well written essay can turn heads, and often help make up for weaker portions of your application. Be creative in your essays, every one's heard of normal boring essay responses. I am applying to soso and so college, cause I am looking for a challenge ... blah... Making the essay visually appealing, really impacts the reader. Try to branch outside of the box, and have fun writing your essay. If it feels tedious it will look tedious. I had ball writing my supplement essay for Bowdoin whose prompt was what do you do for fun? I wrote about matress surfing and playing with wild monkies, it was fun. Use language that is natural to you, NOT SLANG OR THOSE HUGE SAT WORDS. Use advanced language but make sure it flows naturally. If you can't understand what you wrote without a dictionary, it probally won't impress them either. PROOFREAD, GET OTHERS TO PROOFREAD, and PROOFREAD SOME MORE. Write two to three drafts and get multiple opinions on your essay. Grab an English teacher, a fellow student, and a parent and ask to read it and correct it. Then leave the essay alone for two to three days, forget about it. Come back later and reread it. This helps to see mistakes you would have normally passed over.
APPLY ONLINE IF POSSIBLE. Applying online is great, so much easier and more efficient. Many colleges waive the fee if you apply online, and you can check your status online at many colleges. There are so many benefits to online applications, so take advantage of them. Also use the online common app, it really helps save time, since the same app can be reused multiple times.
TESTING IS PAIN BUT DEAL WITH IT. Two things I regret was not taking my time to prepare for the SATs, and not taking the SAT IIs. There're a pain, but they are essential in admission. So take the time, prepare and do your best. After the third time though, don't kill yourself if your scores don't improve, start to focus on other parts of your app and perfect them. Also if you can take the SAT IIs. I really limited my apps by not taking the IIs.
** GIVE ME A DOLLAR** Just playing with you, ignore thism :)</p>
<p>*DEALING WITH YOUR PARENTS * EWWW, they can be such a pain at times, but they are your parents for a reason. Listen to them with an open mind, take thier advice subjectively. If they discourage you from applying somewhere, ask why and try to talk to your way out. Intially my parents wanted me only to apply to local state schools, where I could a full scholarship, but I wanted to go out of state. So lots of yelling and screaming ensued, but in the end we managed to talk a comprimise. Talking is alot better than yelling, so stay calm, and if they really start getting aggravating, just nod your head and say OK Mom I'll consider it. Try keeping your parents involved, show em your research, take them on visits, and just talk. In the end they just want whats best for you. </p>
<p>**DONT BOX YOURSELF IN [\B] Your 17, you don't need to have your future planned out right now. Sure it helps to have an idea of where your're going, but thats what college if for, to discover yourself. So don't paint yourself into a corner and only do one thing. Remember it says INTENDED MAJOR on apps, not what is your major. It may change, so keep an open mind. </p>
<p>FLYINS and Other Nifty programs Colleges have really cool programs to recruit students, and they are an awesome way to learn more about the college. Flyin are really cool, it gives oppurtunitys to students who wouldn't normally be able to visit the college due to geographic and economic reasons. Ask about them, I got to attend the Bowdoin Invitational, and it turned my around, establishing it as my first choice. Colleges have other cool recruiting things, so when calling admissions ask about them. Like Polytechnic gave out free tickets to a Nets game to students who attened an information session. During these cool programs have fun and ask lots of questions. </p>
<p>*Can I afford it * Its the biggest question on everyone's mind, college is expensive, no changing it. But don't let that dictate where you apply to. When searching for colleges looks for key words like : MERIT AID, NEED BLIND, NEED BASED AID, FULL NEED MET, FULL TUTION SCHOLARSHIP, PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP,and DEFFERED LOANS. This is where getting your parents involved plays a role, most likely they'll pay your bills, so talk to them about it. Try to set up a meeting with a finacial aid officer, with your parents and your self to see where you stand. Keep FIANANCES in MIND.</p>
<p>WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE Have fun and keep an open mind through out your selection process. Don't forget your're in highschool, so live a little. And in the end everything works out if the effort was put in. </p>
<p>If you've managed to read all of this, I give you props. There are so many other things I wanted to mention, but I can't think of em now. So hopefully this was a little bit helpful.</p>