Hey everyone,
I used this site a lot when I was in high school and after one year of college, I figure I could share some tips and advice. Most are applicable to all grade levels, some just for the upperclassmen.
I’ll start off by saying do NOT stress too much about applying to college, dream schools, etc. Of course you need to try your best in school and activities, but also remember to enjoy high school. College is a LOT different from high school, so make the most of it!
Now for some more definitive advice.
- Study for the SAT/ACT. If you want a good score, you gotta put in the work. That means PRACTICE! Go through the practice books, go to prep courses, get tutoring... find out what works for you! Of course there are people who don't study and pull 2200+, but most aren't like those students. Do a practice test or some problems to see where you stand. If you want a higher score, you gotta practice.
- Start applications early. If I'm not mistaken, Common Applications already released their essay prompts. If you haven't started at least thinking about what you're going to write about - do so ASAP! I waited too long and ended up with mediocre essays that I know could've been better had I started earlier.
- THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT: When deciding on which colleges to apply to, think about what is important to YOU. What are the qualities of an ideal school? Think about what would make you happy and what would help you excel in your studies. I made the terrible, terrible mistake of putting rankings at the top of my priority list when applying to schools. DO NOT DO THIS. Something that was really important to me was the appearance of the school and the quality of their facilities, but I neglected those categories and thought rankings were more important. Trust me, they're not. I also should've thought about location more. I really want to go to the northeast for college, but again, I thought rankings were more important. I don't hate my current school, but I definitely would have had more options in deciding where I was going had I applied to lesser ranked schools with qualities I should've cared about.
- Continuation of choosing colleges to apply to: Think about whether you want to go to a huge school with a massive population, medium sized, or small sized. I've broken the three categories down that may or may not be helpful in your decision. (This is in regard to population of the student body).
–> Huge schools: Did you hate the size of your high school? Seeing the same faces over and over again bore you? Small, intimate classes are uncomfortable or not for you? Think about applying/choosing very large schools. I go to a huge schools, and I’m always seeing new faces. It’s kind of harder to make friends IMO. Greek life is VERY prevalent at my school because how large the population is, which I personally don’t like too much because a lot of students, including myself, feel semi-forced to join fraternities/sororities in order to make friends because it’s much harder otherwise. My opinion. Take it with a grain of salt! On the other hand, being at a very large school = very large amount of academic recourses. This is a huge plus for me personally because of how easy it was to find a research position in a science lab. There are ENDLESS premed resources. Finding leadership positions is not very difficult either.
–> Medium sized: Think about applying to medium sized schools if you like the idea of a large school, but still want to see familiar faces around campus. I don’t have much else to say here because I go to a very large school, so I’m unfamiliar with this size.
–> Small school: Did you like the classroom sizes in high school? Like seeing faces you know… a lot? Enjoy familiarity? Think about small schools.
This is all I have for now, but please ask anything that comes to mind! I hope this helps at least one person. 
