<p>I haven't taken the SAT or the ACT or the SAT Subject Tests, and to be honest I really don't even know what those are. I definitely want to go to college but I don't have the best grades and I, honestly, don't do anything extra. I don't do sports, I'm not in any clubs, I don't do community service. I seriously wonder if I can even get into college. BUT I know that I want to and I'll try my best to get in. </p>
<p>But as of this moment, I have no idea what I should be doing.</p>
<p>First you should think about what kind of college you'd like to go to, and then spend some time browsing around looking for colleges that you think you'd like to go to.</p>
<p>I think you are not quite ready. I recommend you take a year off after high school. Find a job or study abroad with AFS or YFU ... no need to rush it.</p>
<p>Take a deep breath.</p>
<p>Now, ask yourself why you want to go to college, and what you think you would get out of that experience.</p>
<p>When you have some answers to those questions, go to your parents and ask them how much money is available to pay for college.</p>
<p>Then take all of those ideas and make an appointment with the college advisor/guidance counselor at your HS for a few suggestions on the next steps to take.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>what you should be doing at this moment (and this summer) is learning about the college admissions process. While you hear about how "hard" it is to get into college, that only applies to perhaps 100 of the colleges in the country and there are over 3,000 of them. Truth be told, the majority of the colleges out there accept most of their applicants.</p>
<p>There is a book I recommend you read called "Admission Matters" by Springer and Franck. It explains the whole process and how to look for a college that's right for you.</p>
<p>Well, first of all, welcome to CC! :] Can you post your stats and everything? What your GPA is, what courses you've taken, stuff like that. And for your ECs, just try to think of what you do when you're not at school. I'm sure there's something that would work, since your whole life probably doesn't revolve around school! Think of your hobbies, stuff like that.</p>
<p>SAT is an aptitude test, it has math, critical reading, and writing sections. It's not really about what you've learned, but more of.. kind of how well you can think about the question and figure out the answer. But it's not as hard as it sounds. You probably need to take the SAT as soon as possible, so if you don't score as well as you'd have liked, then you'll have time to retake it.</p>
<p>The ACT is kind of different. SAT and ACT are both used for college admissions, but ACT is more over what's been learned in school, and you should take that if you do badly on the SAT and feel like your ACT score would be higher. Most colleges I think accept either one.</p>
<p>SAT IIs are the subject based tests, so they test what you've learned in a specific subject. For some colleges, you don't have to take these at all, but depending on where you're going to apply, the college may require that you submit 2-3 subject tests with your application.</p>
<p>Also, if you're really worried about getting into college, make sure your essays are reallllllllly good, because they can seriously help your application.</p>
<p>Go online and register for the October SAT. You will have your scores by the end of October, which gives you time for a retake if you want/need to. The deadline to apply for lots of schools is January 1. While it's not wise to wait tilll the last minute, you do have 5 months. You probably have a month till school starts, so you can learn a lot in that amount of time.</p>
<p>You do need to figure out how much money there is for you to go to school. If you need to live at home, go to community college and work part time, you need to know that. If you parents can afford to send you to a state school, starting looking at the web sites of the schools in your state. What size and location appeals to you?</p>
<p>Go online and look at the application form for the schools you're interested in. Do they require teacher's recommendations? If so, think about who you are going to ask and ask as soon as school starts.</p>
<p>Even if all else fails, you can spend a year or two at community college and transfer out when you're ready.</p>
<p>coconut, you're not alone. There are millions of kids in your situation.
And you're lucky to live in CA, which has some of the best educational opportunites in the US. Community colleges are inexpensive, good, and a great way to transfer to a UC: a world-renown system. State colleges offer tremendous value and serve many types of students. So you have lots of options, including the option to take a year off school after you graduate. (But that presents its own set of issues as well.)</p>
<p>I'd recommend you spend the rest of the summer reading CC, collegeboard.com, princetonreview.com etc. Here you'll learn about your options and their various requirements, such as SAT tests, etc. Take a sample test to see how you might do, and to see which areas you need to improve. There are prep books you can check out of the library and inexpensive online courses to boost your scores. </p>
<p>Ask yourself some basic questions: am I ready to go to college? Do I have the grades for UC? Do I want a big school or a small college? What can I afford? (Talk to your parents.) </p>
<p>Check out the websites for your near by state college, UC and community college. They'll offer all the info you'll need regarding requirements and costs. </p>
<p>Once school starts, see a guidance counselor. Insist on it (they're busy people so you have to be persistent.) </p>
<p>It's all doable, coconut -- but good luck anyway.</p>
<p>Start here:
College</a> Search: Planning</p>