ADVICE from a HS senior to all you underclassmen/juniors thinking about top colleges

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Hey there, I'm currently a high school senior in the midst of the college application process, and as I've been filling out apps there's so many things I wish I'd known when I was a freshman and even a junior. So I thought it'd be both fun and informative if I made a list to help you guys out who are thinking about top colleges :) Keep in mind that this is just what I know based on my experience in high school and with college admissions, but I do think that this is pretty sound advice for any high schooler.</p>

<p>~ Freshmen/Sophomores ~
1.) Try out for EVERYTHING that catches your interest. Baseball? Yearbook? Marching Band? Student Council? Go for it! Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. And plus, it helps improve your interview skills, which is really helpful for college.
2.) DON'T slack off on your grades. Bad grades, especially freshman year, can TANK your GPA. Keep in mind that all private schools (at least all the ones I've ever seen/heard of) look at your 9 - 12 GPA. Which means EVERY year counts.
3.) Think about your MAJOR. Colleges like to see that you're passionate about what you plan to study. That's not to say that your future is set in stone at 16 (it's not) but for the sake of college admissions, put some thought into your major as early as now. You may not know EXACTLY what you want to major in, but it may be easy to narrow it down to a couple fields that you're really interested in. From there, pursue that interest outside of the classroom through ECs (Robotics club, MUN, Culinary ROP, etc.)
4.) COMPETE. Honestly, colleges like to be able to brag about their students, so try to compete in regional/national competitions in your extracurricular activity. The worst thing that can happen is that you don't win, but even PLACING at a regional/national level shows a level of commitment and achievement.
5.) Try to take the HARDEST classes offered at your school. In sports and ECs, work hard and show that you have leadership potential.
6.) SAT/Subject Tests: Try some practice tests and see how ready you are for these tests. If you feel like you are, take them as early as now. Esp. if you're taking a class like AP Chem or Pre-Calc your sophomore year, you may want to get your subject tests done with.
7.) On Peer Pressure and General Life Suck: In high school, EVERYONE is trying to find themselves. So don't be discouraged by the people who try to put you down, and don't give in to the feeling that you have to be "just like everybody else." You are NOT alone. Stay positive, keep trying, and remember that you WILL get through this.
8.) Do you have a Dream School? If so, look into their admissions policies. It may be good to figure out what schools you plan to apply to as early as now.</p>

<p>~ Juniors ~
1.) It's called HELL YEAR for a reason. Your junior year grades hold the most weight in determining your college readiness, and your junior year TEACHERS will most likely be the ones writing you recs come senior year. So go all out and make the best impression possible!
2.) PSAT: This is the test that can qualify you for National Merit Scholarships. If you're serious about making Semi-finalist/Finalist, study for it and get a good night's rest before the test. There's prep books you can buy online that can help you as well.
3.) AP TESTS: The more tests you take and do well on, the higher the award will be (I'm not a fan of this practice since I feel like it's the College Board's way of making more money by rewarding kids for taking more tests, but whatever.) Also, if your school doesn't offer APs or only offers a few, self-studying an AP test and doing well on it is a way to show that you can measure up academically against students nationwide. Keep in mind that there are prep books for these, and AP credits can give you exemptions from certain college reqs/intro classes as well.
4.) SAT/Subject Tests: Take these ASAP! There's TONS of resources to study for these tests, so make use of them. Also, keep in mind that scoring highly on subject tests can exempt you (just as with AP tests) from certain intro classes and college reqs.
5.) Leadership, Leadership, Leadership. If you've spent any amount of time on any college's admissions page, you'll notice that they all emphasize this. You can show leadership through a variety of different positions, from team captain to club president to manager at Starbucks. The point is to show that you're best fit for the position and that you TRY OUT.
6.) COLLEGE ESSAYS: Start early!! Narrow down your college list and hammer out some drafts. This may be during the summer after junior year, but DEFINITELY don't wait 'til senior year starts.
7.) Scholarships and Awards: Apply for these. Seriously. But keep in mind that if you're middle class and are looking at schools that have need-based financial aid only (i.e.: Ivies) they'll actually deduct your scholarship money from their financial aid to you. This isn't all bad since most likely your aid package will include some work-study and loans, and colleges will deduct from that part of your aid first. But if you're in this situation and win a $30,000 scholarship, as awesome as that is, it may not help you as much as you think.</p>

<p>~ Misc. ~
1.) Make use of SUMMERS. Summer is the time to do internships, research, volunteer work, and camps. But one rule of thumb: Whatever program you decide on, there SHOULD be an application process. If anyone can do it just by paying money, the program won't be worth much to college admissions officers.
2.) I'd highly advise AGAINST cheating. Not only will it seriously hurt your chances at top schools if you get caught, but it's not something you can keep up for the rest of your life. You may have heard that "if you can get away with it, you deserve the grade," but the point of tests is to assess your skills and knowledge of the ACTUAL subject matter, not your ability to cheat. If you spend all of high school cheating your way to the top, you'll never be able to actually apply the subject matter, cause you never LEARNED it.
3.) Have fun! I cannot emphasize this enough. As much as grades are important, don't waste your high school life with the mindset of "just getting through" the next 4 years until you leave for college. You're living NOW, and you should try to enjoy every moment of it.</p>

<p>Wow this is long. I'm not sure if anyone would take the time to read all this. But I already typed it up (great distraction from college essays ;)) so hopefully someone benefits from this :D</p>

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<p>Also:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Don’t worry about volunteer hours (unless you need them for graduation or scholarships). No college application has ever asked me how many volunteer hours I have. Your ECs can involve community service, but they don’t have to.</p></li>
<li><p>Talk to your parents early and figure out how you’re going to pay for college and how much they’re going to contribute. Use Net Price Calculators on college websites.</p></li>
<li><p>Keep a notebook filled with sentences and random ideas you think of. They don’t have to be well-developed or in complete sentences…just scribble things down when you think of them. You can use this material for essays later. (Also, don’t start your essays until your junior year at the earliest. If you’re only a freshman or a sophomore, the things you’re going to write about might not have happened yet.)</p></li>
<li><p>IMO there is no reason to go to a summer program that costs more than a couple hundred dollars, unless it offers significant college credit or you can get financial aid (look into this…a lot of programs have it if you’re low-income). Otherwise, either get into a free program/internship or get a job. Having a job is impressive even if it’s just at McDonald’s, because it indicates character. (Yes, I work at McDonald’s.)</p></li>
<li><p>There’s nothing special about NHS in itself. It’s only worth noting if your chapter actually does things. </p></li>
<li><p>Be open to change. When I was a freshman I wanted to be a dietician. Now I want to be a mathematician. I bet next year I’ll want to be a cake decorator or something. </p></li>
<li><p>The PSAT is important. Try for NMF and don’t worry too much about Fastweb scholarships because I don’t think anyone really gets them. :)</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of admissions, colleges don’t care much about AP scores.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Freshman here, (although I’m certain halcyonheather knows this :)). I love your advice, you have endowed upon us some great knowledge that will certainly carve the lives of many of the 16/17’ers reading this thread. Thanks so much for taking the time to write this amidst the highly stressful senior lifestyle you live. Honestly, I never thought about it that way as such PLACING would make a huge difference when it certainly does. I’ll definitely be following your beneficial advice and keep it in the front of my mind. </p>

<p>Good luck to all schools you are applying to, sir/ma’am!</p>

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<p>This thread is so precious.</p>

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<p>I second the emphatic thanks. A lot of this is information I need as I apply to a boarding school (NCSSM) and as I anticipate my junior year. (I’m also commenting because I want the app to bookmark this post.)</p>

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<p>Does every high achieving student go through the phase of trying to find themselves? Thinking heavy thoughts and wondering what they were put on the earth to do?</p>

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<p>Few schools offer interviews, and interviews are probably the least important factor in admissions.</p>

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<p>Princeton doesn’t care about 9th grade.</p>

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<p>Disagree. It’s okay to apply as Undecided unless you’re considering engineering. Engineering majors often have a separate admissions process at most schools.</p>

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<p>Honestly, people exaggerate the horrors of high school. As long as you’re somewhat social, you should have a decent experience.</p>

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<p>:rolleyes:</p>

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<p>I’d recommend not murdering anyone as well.</p>

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<p>So what’s a “top college?” Just wondering…
I could give advice, but I don’t think I’m one of those people applying to “top colleges”</p>

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<p>Top college = Princeton</p>

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<p>This is a great thread - and wanted to add - that I know classmates of mine have gone to very illustrious institutions with lots of community service hours. Lots of them.</p>

<p>Which were given to them because of disciplinary infractions that were internal and not reported to the colleges they applied to.</p>

<p>That’s one easy way to get college community service hours. Just smoke one cig on campus for every 20. Easy.</p>

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<p>Wow, thank you so much. I’m a junior, and this is really helpful.</p>

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<p>Y’all, this is great–sincerely, a junior who is suffering from severe burns from hell year.</p>

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<p>I’m a sophomore and this is super insightful! A question to all the upperclassmen: do you regret anything from your previous years in high school? In what ways have you changed as an individual?</p>

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<p>As an underclassman, I had this prideful attitude–that a Berkeley admission / really high SAT score would be no problem. Neither of those happened.
–Okay, around summer entering junior year, the indoctrination began that I should attend a not very selective school and save money. I’ve been converted and kind of get annoyed at the concept of “top colleges.” Just the feels of contentment with the fact that soon I shall get the full engineering experience w/out having any GEs left to interfere / have a solid almost guaranteed plan and path is good enough.</p>

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<p>@Repede, what grade are you in? Just wondering.</p>

<p>And @jae221, thanks for all the advice, now get back to those college essays. :)</p>

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<p>Guys, college apps are so fun and senior year has no stress whatsoever!!</p>

<p>/s</p>

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<p>@Repede:</p>

<p>-Without a doubt, interview skills help for college. Alumni interviews won’t HELP by making up for low test scores or GPA, but they can certainly HURT if students do poorly. And good interview skills are necessary for many of the leadership positions that colleges look for.
-I hadn’t looked into Princeton’s policies on transcripts as I’m not applying there. After perusing the Princeton admissions website, however, I found nothing that stated that freshman grades are not taken into account. I am curious to see where you found this info. That aside, my guess is that someone applying to Princeton will likely apply to other top schools as well, and those DO look at 9 - 12.
-What I said holds true. Whether or not you decide to declare a major at the time you apply, it’s expected that you’ll show a demonstrated passion for 1 or more fields of study. Students who start thinking about their major earlier have an advantage in this respect.
-If you really believe that, then you obviously had a very sheltered HS experience. There are PLENTY of people who are “somewhat social” in high school and yet feel alone, unfulfilled, and unhappy. I’d prefer if you didn’t try to downplay these kids’ personal struggles.
-Trust me. Squeezing in time for essays in between ECs and AP classes is no fun at all.
-Cheating is a very real temptation for many HS students aiming at top schools, given the pressure they are under academically and how overcommitted they tend to be.</p>

<p>In closing, Repede, you come off as rude and insensitive. This could be because you’re a ■■■■■, but I felt the need to rectify your snarky comments for the sake of younger students.</p>

<p>Edit: Sigh. I get the feeling that I just opened up a can of worms. Kids, just remember to double-check all the stuff you read here on the forums. There’s a lot of useful info but there’s also a lot of garbage. In the end, gather your evidence and make the best decision as to what you believe to be true. This goes for all the above posts.</p>

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<p>It’s really funny when people take what they read on an anonymous forum that seriously.</p>

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<p>Eh, why not?</p>

<ul>
<li>You definitely don’t need interview skills to get leadership positions. And interviews aren’t that big of a deal; for mine, I just had a conversation for about an hour.</li>
<li>Went to an admissions session. A lot of schools don’t look at 9th grade. While you definitely shouldn’t bomb it, you can still get into a lot of great schools if you do. UCs are a good example. </li>
<li>I feel like that really only applies to the top schools, and it’s not like anyone has a good chance at those schools anyway.</li>
<li>Woe is me.</li>
<li>Only if you’re terrible at time management. I’m having no problems.</li>
<li>Sorry, I thought we were playing the state something obvious game.</li>
</ul>

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<p>Repede = best cc ■■■■■ lolol</p>