<p>Okay so im only a sophmore on highschool and i am freaking out about college! Not only do I have to find a way to pay for tuition, room and board I also have to figure out what to major in....plus i am wanting to go out of state which adds more money on top of that! Even though i have all this to worry about the main problems are what college do i want to go to and making sure im accepted to that college which includes gpa's , SAT, etc. I dont know what to do and i need help to plan for this because i only
have two years left....HELP?!</p>
<p>You’ve got plenty of time.</p>
<p>1) You don’t have to know what you want to major in. Lots of people don’t.</p>
<p>2) Apply for lots of scholarships. You’d be surprised how many smaller ones there are, and then they all add up.</p>
<p>3) You don’t have to figure out which college you want to go to yet either. Just generally start looking and see what kind you want to go to. Public, private? Small, medium, large? etc.</p>
<p>4) “Only” two years left; you’ve got plenty of time.</p>
<p>Really? Because the way other people are craming it for college i feel rushed and pressured into making quick decisions for college, and small scholarships; do they really add up together?</p>
<p>Sure, a couple hundred bucks here, a thousand there, it can add up to a lot. My history teacher told us to apply to all of them; she told us this story of when she was around our age. She applied to every one that had a form in the guidance office, even the one that was for the Young Men’s association or something like that. She won it too, because she was the only one who applied, ha. </p>
<p>No need to worry though. You are already ahead of the game if you are looking at colleges. What kind of college do you like? What state do you want to go to? But yeah, not like you can even apply yet anyhow.</p>
<p>Yeah that’s true and i know i want to go to a public university, even though a private college does appeal to me. State wise im not sure maybe Washington, California, or New York, you know the basics.</p>
<p>I’m going to reiterate what has been said before: You. Have. Time. 2 years is a lot of time. I know people that didn’t decide on college until days before the deadlines. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t know everything yet. You shouldn’t.</p>
<p>^MIThopeful is wise. He’s a college student so he knows all about the “pick-a-college” deal.</p>
<p>Okay i get it “I have time” but wouldn’t be good if i deal with the whole college decisions now and get them out of the way?</p>
<p>How the heck can you decide if you haven’t applied and don’t know where you’ve been accepted? Sure, find a couple of colleges you like, in fact, find a bunch, because nothing’s set in stone and you won’t know or not if you’ll get accepted until you apply.</p>
<p>No, because your mind will change. You’ll think about a college this way one day and that way the next. Unless it’s been entirely ingrained to “Apply to X and do X” there’s no point in deciding now. </p>
<p>Now I said don’t * decide * on everything now. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your research on different colleges, and shouldn’t be scouting out what you are interested in. Just don’t fret about not having it all figured out and set in stone yet.</p>
<p>Researching colleges and majors is what i was referring to when i said college decisions. Okay i got it! I wont fret about college right now, im just going to “explore” my options relating to college. Thanks for the help and the anxiety relief.</p>
<p>The way I see it you should either</p>
<p>A. Go to college in California
Or
B. Go to Georgetown.</p>
<p>Because in my mind that is the perfect scenario :)</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you’re freaking out about this, since the world is ending in 19 days there’s no reason to stress out over college.</p>
<p>Omg I forgot that. It’s crazy how we were more stressed about 2012 3 yrs ago then now.</p>
<p>How is going to college in California or Georgetown the perfect scenario?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because california is the #1 worst-run state, and he likes to be miserable.
[The</a> Best- and Worst-Run States in America - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-150415625.html]The”>The Best- and Worst-Run States in America)</p>
<p>Really? I didn’t think it was that bad.</p>
<p>^Because goodnoodle live in CA and wants to stay in state or go to East Coast-Georgetown</p>
<p>Step 1: find something to dedicate your time to. Find a hobby of sorts or a club or a sport (maybe find two or three things) and just really put a lot of time in them. A sport and two clubs are a decent combination: work really hard at the sport even if you’re not good, dedicate a lot of time and ideas into the clubs, try and run for leadership positions in them.</p>
<p>Step 2: get on top of grades. Once you’ve got good grades (whatever that may be in your book) try to delve into some harder classes. That may be honors classes it may be APs. Don’t go crazy, just do what you think you can handle. Once you’ve done that, jump into some even harder classes (if junior year you take 2 or 3 harder classes and come out fine, senior year do 4 or 5)</p>
<p>Step 3: SATs and Subject tests. Okay invest in one or two SAT prep books and just pick a date sometime in the future (preferably after a long break so you have time to study) and just study the books in your free time (a couple hours a week) until you’re getting the score you want on the practice test. After that I’d pick one or two (or three) subject tests (ones that you’ve had the class for and had an interest in or were really good in) and take time out to take those tests aswell.</p>
<p>Step I-would-do-this-simultaneously-with-the-other-three-steps:
Okay so think about the type of college you want to go to (big, small, east coast, west coast etc.), and think about what you can afford (if you’re planning to become a doctor then having a small fortune of student loans won’t be horrendous. If your parents can maybe do a couple grand than look at schools whose tuition is around <20,000), private or public? After you’ve got those down, think about what’s important to you (does the campus have a gym, is it next to a gym, can I have my car, are dorms guaranteed, will the school accept my AP credits, does it have a big Greek life, does it allow double majors, what’s the campus food like etc). Now you’re almost there. Think to some careers you could see yourself in (maybe a vet, or a teacher, or a programmer) and research these fields a little, see the average pays, see if the job is a growing career, and understand the degree you need to have that career. Next look through some colleges that fit these criteria and offer degrees in the majors you’re interested in (just because it doesn’t have a world renowned vet program doesn’t mean you won’t get a good degree). After you’ve got that list of colleges (it may 20 or 10 or 5), see how your GPA and SAT go against other people excepted there and rank the schools as a safety (if you apply there’s no way you’re getting denied), match (you have the same scores and stats as most people there, good chance you’re getting in), or reach (it’s a hard school to get into and your stats are on the lower end of admissions). Narrow your list of school down to <10 and then just work hard on your essays and scholarship stuff</p>
<p>That sounds like alot but most of its pretty easy, it just takes a little time and dedication.</p>
<p>Wow Teaspoons, great post. </p>
<p>Speaking of tuition, don’t just look at a college’s “sticker price”, because a lot of colleges that are expensive are actually very affordable with financial aid (Harvard, for example).</p>