Hi, I just finished up my first semester of high school… it’s just as scary as they said!! I’ve been thinking about college since I knew what it was, and I’d like a second opinion now that things have really picked up.
Miraculously (or maybe because I do my homework) I made it past semester 1 with straight-A’s, unweighted. I also scored a 219 on the PSAT.
I’m taking French 2 Honors and Acting as my electives. I’m also taking Honors Literature, Honors Biology, and AP Human Geography. I’m taking Accelerated Coordinate Algebra - also Honors.
Last fall, I ran cross-country and tutored elementary-school kids in science (volunteer).
This semester, I’m on swim team and in the school musical. I’ll also be looking into FBLA.
My plans for next summer include Johns Hopkins CTY, taking Geometry, a mission trip to Haiti, summer running, and possibly another mission trip (inside the States) with my home church.
I’m a Catholic white female that attends a public school near Atlanta. I identify as LGBT. My family is higher middle income.
I’m very interested in writing and the sciences - but not engineering, as of now.
What schools do you think would be a good fit for me? I would prefer a school outside of the Southeast, possibly in the Northeast.
As a high school frosh, it is very early to be looking at specific colleges. Your main priorities are:
Choose rigorous high school courses and do well in them.
Where possible, achieve highly in extracurriculars (e.g. in the sports, try for the highest level championships).
Junior year is one of the most important periods for college preparation:
Courses and grades in junior year tend to be highly weighted for college admissions.
Do well on the PSAT in junior year (when it counts for National Merit scholarship qualification).
Take the SAT and ACT in junior year. If desired, retake the initially higher one in senior year after additional preparation.
Some time before senior year, talk to your parents about college funding. Run the net price calculator on the web site of some representative colleges -- state flagship, local state university, well known private, local private -- to get an idea of what financial aid is like.
What area do you think you’d want a degree in?
STEM or More of the arts?
I’m guessing liberal arts. Next is what kind of atmosphere you want.
Do you want the school full of hipsters? (Ie University of Chicago, Brown)
Do you want to go to a more serious place? (Ie a lot of Ivies tbh)
Do you want a small community?
Do you want to feel like you’ve walked a journey across the Sahara while dehydrated and once you’ve finally found water, you’re blasted by non stopping pounding waves? (Ie MIT, CALTECH)
How much are you willing to put up a fight?
You don’t have to know what college you want to go to at this time but it’s hard to choose. You’ll figure what you want as you progress through high school. Start at a little at a time.