<p>Hello and thank you to everyone who bothered to read this. I am a freshman, and i would like to know if anyone could tell me what i hould be doing now in order to get in to a fantastic univercity. my mom and dad both went to jr. college, so they arn't the most help on this subject. I have a 4.0 gpa, and i already took the SAT's once, i took it in order to try to go to a john hopkins summer program. I got a 570 math. I don't really know what else to say, i am involved with my church, and i am on the leadership of the christian club at my school. I will be taking algerbra II my freshman year along with honors physics, latin I, honors english, and another elective, it will probably be web page design. is there anything else i should do? please give me some tips, and thank you</p>
<p>I'd say just keep up the good work, stay/get more involved...keep reading all the info on here...I wish I'd been more proactive and had known a lot of the information I've garnered just in the last couple weeks of being on CC.</p>
<p>Things someone should tell every freshman:</p>
<p>Freshman year counts. But you seem to understand that already. In fact, freshman year is one of the easier ways to boost your GPA. </p>
<p>Get involved in something. Anything! Just something. In fact, a couple of things. Stay involved and become increasingly more active between now and senior year. Try to be president by senior year. You can drop stuff along the way (i dropped class officers), but stay involved with a few things. </p>
<p>Get super friendly with your guidance counselor. They can write you an actual recommendation that way instead of a phony dime a dozen recommendation. </p>
<p>(this may not help too much with college...), but breathe. I stressed out so much my freshman year. I don't mean work less hard, and its probably not something you can teach, but relaxing once in a while is a big deal. My friends and i didn't really figure that out until junior year. </p>
<p>Start practicing for the SATs early. They don't matter nearly as much as everyone says they do, but they do matter. For me, i did about 10 practice tests, and it wasn't that much work bc i did them from september to may. Practicing your freshman/sophomore year is pretty useless (unless you plan on taking the SAT then) because you learn so much more math and vocab and so many writing skills each year. You just don't realize it. </p>
<p>Start visiting colleges now. I visited Yale in my freshman year, and it was a very good experience for me. Some of my friends say visiting colleges gave them motivation, something to work toward. I just like that i don't have as many places to visit now, the summer before my senior year. </p>
<p>Pick a few teachers to suck up to (not necessarily overt brown nosing, but doing great work for them, volunteering to do projects with/for them, generally being an impressive student). The trick with college apps is, not every teacher has to love you, but a few have to think you're simply the most amazing student they've ever seen. That's how you get good recommendations. </p>
<p>Find a school that fits your interests. You'll learn on CC and by visiting and in real life that different schools have different specialties. I have no idea what i want to do/study, but i do have a general idea, and so i look for those sorts of colleges. </p>
<p>That's about all i can think of.</p>
<p>thank you!</p>
<p>Wow, very solid post, kwi. I was never that driven when I was a freshman (or, well, never that "college driven") but for those who are, that's some great advice without being unreasonably obsessive.</p>
<p>I just hope that everyone on CC remembers, as I am trying to do, that college is a means and an experience, not an end unto itself. Unless you absolutely make the most out of HYP, I don't believe they offer much "value-added" product. Just going through HYP, you may not end up that much smarter than when you came in. If you really work at it, then you will. But that's true with any college. So if, at the end of the day, you visit HYP and don't like them because they're full of snobs or because they're just not right for you, then don't go. In the same vein, don't stress (too much - it's impossible not to stress a little) if HYP don't admit you. HYP and some other top school attract many of the "best students" and so its graduates are granted the benefit of the doubt - people will assume they are "the best." They then have to maintain that status through the caliber of their work. But if you actually ARE the best, even if you don't attend one of the "elite" schools, you'll still do great, because the cream rises to the top.</p>
<p>Best, goodluck, and enjoy high school!
DMW</p>