<p>Since many of you are about to finish high school and have recieved acceptances to good colleges, how about sharing with us (the ignorant 2014/15/16/...) advice on College Apps and other college planning stuff. I am sure your experiences will be helpful to our situations</p>
<p>-Try to push through the essays as soon as you can. I’m still working on them, but most people I know are done.
- Don’t be timid going into freshman year (even if that’s too late for a lot of people now). I only took two honors classes, and I wish I had taken more.
- If your school doesn’t promote it much, look into USAMO and various contests. I missed out on that stuff because I simply didn’t know about it.
- Most of all, just do what you want. Colleges appreciate that more than anything else. Except money, of course.</p>
<p>In my case everything worked out fine, but probably don’t fall in love with a single school before you get in. </p>
<p>Avoid the “What Are My Chances?” board, as well as any threads specific to a school’s results because their only purpose is to inflict pain and suffering.</p>
<p>Applications really aren’t bad at all. Georgetown had three essays and I wrote all three of them in like under an hour each and only had to fix grammar and stuff. Don’t spend four months looking at the ceiling hoping for inspiration. Just pick something, make it really sappy and over reflective and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Uh…</p>
<p>Few tidbits.</p>
<p>Get ALL of your testing done Junior Year. No need to waste part of Senior Year testing, you need to enjoy that year.</p>
<p>Stay on top of deadlines and materials need for college applications.</p>
<p>Form a solid bond with ALL your teachers and guidance counselor. You want them to be willing to give their firstborn (not really) to get you into your #1 school. Make it happen.</p>
<p>Start on your essays early, and write them at the BEST time of the day for you. For me, it’s usually late at night (but I need lots of sleep though). Have fun writing them. The topics are broad enough to fit your story.</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to write about cliche topics, some of the best essays are cliche but well-written.</p>
<p>If you are lucky to find an acceptance from your college, do the following:</p>
<p>**THANK EVERYONE WHO HELPED YOU GET TO THIS POINT: YOUR TEACHERS, FRIENDS, AND FAMILY.</p>
<p>Celebrate!</p>
<p>And most of all…don’t let it get to your head, STAY HUMBLE.**</p>
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<p>I concur. I’m still doing this, actually. Not a single application has been submitted by me yet. I want to drive my car off a bridge each time I see people announcing their college acceptances, because I haven’t even submitted a single one yet.</p>
<p>-WRITE YOUR ESSAY. Both my sister and I finished our applications months ago… why aren’t they submitted yet? ESSAYS. They’re driving us insane, and they really don’t have to be doing that. </p>
<p>-When you sign up for the SATs, you are given 4 (8 if you use a fee waiver) free score reports to send to colleges. USE THEM WISELY. Better yet, USE THEM. My first time taking the test, I just sent my scores to random colleges because I had no clue what I was doing. My second time, I didn’t even remember to send my scores! Now I have to pay $11 PER COLLEGE for them to get my scores. I don’t have that money, so I want to die knowing I could’ve avoided paying A LOT.</p>
<p>-If you are reluctant about attending your cheap in-state public institution but think you can’t afford anything else… think again. So many privates are great with financial aid. If you don’t like your state school, you probably don’t have to settle. (For some examples of colleges that are awesome with aid, click here: [Colleges</a> that Meet the Financial Needs of Students | CollegeXpress](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-that-meet-the-financial-needs-of-students/349/]Colleges”>Colleges That Meet the Financial Needs of Students | CollegeXpress))</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Do a practice test for the SAT/ACTs. If your school administers the PSAT or the PLAN, that should suffice. Based on that, see what you need to improve on! When I got my PSAT scores back (1730 I think?), I thought, “Oh, wow, I’m going to go through every problem I got wrong, see how to do it, and I’ll get a 2000+ in no time!” I never did it. I took my real SAT— 1750. Once again, I said, “Alright. I will go through every question I got wrong and PRACTICE!” Guess what I didn’t do?.. Next time, I got a 1790… STILL NOT MUCH BETTER! Now, it’s too late for me to even fix anything, and I’m stuck with a superscore of 1820. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. If you don’t do well on a practice test, PRACTICE UNTIL YOU DO! (I’m not saying that a score in the 1700/1800s is bad by any means; it just ruined my hopes of getting into the schools I was interested in. For state schools/schools that aren’t too selective, they’re still more than satisfactory.)</p></li>
<li><p>For anyone who’s just starting high school… don’t slack off your freshman year! Most people I know did; I did! I regret it! I got maybe a high 80, low 90 that year. I’ve been getting mid-high 90s since, and my GPA has only risen to a 93. You may think that one year is insignificant, but that is soooo not the case!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>There’s more I want to say, but it’s too late for me to think of it. I hope I helped! I wish I could go back in time and give myself the same advice.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Start filling out your Common App in August. So many kids in my grade are just starting theirs and they are stressed to the max. Even if you don’t want to write your essays that early, filling out the basics will give you a leg up. </p>
<p>Find something you love to do, and do everything you can with it. Colleges like to see you really committed to things, so if you have a passion or two, stick with them and enjoy them. Don’t join clubs to join clubs.</p>
<p>Build solid relationships with your guidance counselor and teachers. Letters of recommendation can really help your application, so if you can get more than a generic cut and paste letter out of them the better off you’ll be. </p>
<p>Visit colleges. It’s the best way to see if you’ll fit that school.</p>
<p>-Try to get testing done by Junior Year.
-Search for schools that you like.
-Try to find a major that you like and take classes related to that major.
-Essays are really important for college admissions. ( You might have crappy SAT scores or two/three B’s or C’s, but essays determine If you’re in or not.)
-Study hard for AP exams. You never know If you’re going to skip a class or two.
-Finish essays before your Senior Year.
-Try to build great relationships with Math/Science/English Teacher. You might get extra credit and get a good letter of rec.
-Join a sport and get involved into 3 clubs that you like.
Last but not least. Never Give up!!</p>
<p>Also, if you do happen to fall in love with a school, keep your mind open. My dream school changed like five times.</p>
<p>The class of 2013 has an issue with essays…</p>
<p>But seriously, thanks for the tips guys!</p>
<p>Start as early as humanly possible.
Don’t just visit websites. Explore them. I fell in love with my choice only after I saw pictures of campus.</p>
<p>Agreed, this is some good advice. I’m starting to freak out about essays, though. I’ve looked at some prompts and I honestly have no idea what to write about. 
That would seriously suck if I had the stats for my dream schools but my essays kept me out.</p>
<p>-have an idea of what colleges you are applying to your freshman year. This is just in case the college requires you to take a class that your high school doesn’t
-take AP classes!
-don’t screw off at all! Do not get lower than a B in any of your classes
-visit colleges
-start taking your tests sophomore and study for them
-get involved in your school somehow
-do not let anyone discourage you at all! Someone says you can’t get into your dream school? Apply anyways. You never know what will happen :)</p>
<p>-Try in school. Don’t slack off, and do as well as you can in your classes. Pulling a C in a really difficult class is not going to absolutely kill you. </p>
<p>-If you do screw up, know that there ARE options to fix your mistakes. I royally screwed myself in the beginning, and now that I’m fixing it, I feel so great about it. Yes, extra online and night classes suck. Yes, taking underclassman classes as a senior is uncomfortable. But it’s doable. </p>
<p>-College admission teams will not be as hard on you as members of College Confidential can be.</p>
<p>Biggest piece of advice: Be VERY wary of getting advice from people here.</p>
<p>-Don’t log in CC too often. Not only will you end up procrastinating, but you’ll also freak out and end up thinking that your 2000 SAT score, your 3.8 GPA, and your 10 AP courses will put you in the bottom of the pack.</p>
<p>Read “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport. Order it right now. I can fully accredit my acceptance to Hamilton to him. Do it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Definitely start applying and writing essays early. </p></li>
<li><p>Always be organized, or TRUST ME, you will forget something.</p></li>
<li><p>Start getting involved in your school freshman year. Don’t wait - I’ve joined a few clubs, but I wish I joined more. </p></li>
<li><p>Get recommendations early too! You don’t want to have everything done and struggle with that… Always remember to say thanks too :)</p></li>
<li><p>Last, just enjoy high school and take everything on here with a grain of salt. and good luck ;)</p></li>
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<p>You all have problems with essays lol</p>