<p>ok so im a freshman in high school, and im just wondering on some early advice as far as colleges go?</p>
<p>Some things I wish I did when I was a freshman was join clubs and activities and stay with them throughout your high school career. Invest a lot of time in them and try to obtain leadership positions. Try and take at least a few Honors/AP classes... Don't limit yourself to one sequence of classes (ie. art, music,...) diversify to find what truly may interest you.</p>
<p>-Definitely agree with ^. Sample as many clubs/sports as you can then choose two or three that you're really interested in and stick with it throughout high school and maybe get a leadership position.<br>
-Take the most advanced courses that you think you can handle.
-Talk to your high school counselor once in awhile and establish a relationship with them
-Demonstrate to your teachers what kind of student you truly are. And keep in mind the future recommendations you may get from them.
-Study SAT's whenever you have time. Don't procrastinate until right before the test. Freshman year is not too early if you just do a little each night.<br>
-Write college apps during summer after junior year. Makes senior year MUCH more enjoyable.
-Pursue something you are passionate about over the summer. Don't just lounge around. Take some college courses, travel, volunteer, or anything else that's productive and conducive to your growth as a human being.
-Enter as many competitions as you see fit and it's OK if you don't get any awards.
...All things I feel would have helped me in the high school/collegeapp process -.-</p>
<p>and THE most important
-Don't worry about college too much. Live your life to the fullest (cheesy omg i know), pursue your passions, focus on the people around you and fostering relationships with them.
-...hmmm AND don't return back to these forums. They're addictive and make you worry if you're good enough or not and whether you should be doing this or that. Time spent on ECs, SATs, hwk, hanging out with friends would be much better for your health/future than sitting in front of your computer and reading what we say.</p>
<p>Yuppp and that is all I have to impart to you young grasshopper. I hope you enjoy high school and make the most of it!</p>
<p>Definitely second the get involved and stick with it theme.</p>
<p>I would also really emphasize the importance of goals- ie, I wanted to be captain of my lax team, and I wanted to make All-Metro for Quiz Bowl, etc. More often than not, you'll underestimate yourself (or this might be a personal fault), overshoot your goals, and be pleasantly surprised with the results.</p>
<p>Don't be too concerned with college at this point. Just pursue your interests both academically and extracurricularly - take challenging classes in areas your interested in, join clubs for stuff you like, play sports you enjoy, etc.
The one thing I regret not having done enough of, though, is community service. Try to find somewhere you can volunteer on a regular basis, even just an hour or two every week or so.</p>
<p>and i definately agree with broken about not obsessing over this site. All it does is make you nervous and make it seem like waht you have done isnt good enough....at least dont start obsessing until it's time to start searchign for colleges</p>
<p>get a book on college admissions such as "Admission Matters". The table of contents is at Table</a> of Contents You'll learn how colleges decide who to admit, as well as a good overview of how the whole process works (which is better than learning it 3rd-hand from your friends based on stories of what their cousin did). Armed with knowledge of what colleges look for, you can then work on making sure you're not overlooking something and are doing the right things, while at the same time avoid stressing over fear of the unknown.</p>
<p>Just as important as what to do is what NOT to do at this early stage. Don't try to pick colleges you'd like, what you'll major in, the career you'll pursue, or in general get into a contest with your friends involving picking impressive-sounding goals (eg. "I'm going Ivy!", "I'm going to work on Wall Street!"). There are few principles you'll learn in intro psych and two of them are cognitive dissonance and another is called by Cialdini "committment and consistency". Even though it sounds harmless, once you start announcing to the world decisions like these you are subconciously blinding yourself to alternatives and begin to form attachments to these casual decisions. </p>
<p>I also like the advice brokenwings gave ;)</p>