<p>Salutations! I am a new user to College Confidential, and I am curious to see what advice you might have for me. Currently, I am in eighth grade, and I begin my freshman year of high school this coming fall. My aspirations include being a neurosurgeon in the distant future, so I am trying very hard to go to Harvard. For kicks and giggles, becoming valedictorian isn't something I would shy away from either.</p>
<p>All my classes for the spring will be gifted classes except for two AP classes I will be taking: AP Biology and AP Human Geography. Do you have any tips for me regarding high school? Should I overachieve?</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to stomp all over other people to get your way. (DISCLAIMER: Do it in a nice way.)
Don’t overstretch yourself, no one cares if your part of 21 clubs. Pick 2 or 3 and become passionate about them, and strive for leadership positions!
If you have the opportunity, join a sports team. There’s nothing like the team atmosphere to teach you life skills.
AP exams are easy, study and you’ll do fine. Don’t overreact.
SAT -> don’t kill yourself. Train your mind and body to work like a machine on test day.
KEEP COLLEGE ADMISSION STUFF IN MIND!!! Does your school count writing section, accept ap credit, etc., etc., etc.
Don’t focus on one college, let harvard be your dream school, but also picture yourself at other places in case your dream doesn’t work out for you.
When in doubt, hang out with your friends. You can only choose two out of three between sleep, social life, and success in school</p>
<p>Relax! you’re in 8th grade, no need to get all worked up!</p>
<p>Just focus on your own academics and EC’s. Stomping all over people at your school might help your rank but you end up having a whole lot of drama I’d imagine and there is a country full of people just like the ones you’re trying to beat at school.</p>
<p>Don’t sweat bad grades. Who cares if you don’t go to an ivy? There are much better schools out there.</p>
<p>Learn how to write well. It will be your most invaluable academic skill.</p>
<p>Don’t write off English class as a joke. If you put the effort into it, it’s a fascinating course that’s just as demanding as math and science.</p>
<p>As yankee said, (try to) find a passion and delve into it.</p>
<p>Don’t worry if you don’t find a passion; no one’s expecting you to know what you want to do in high school.</p>
<p>High school isn’t just about academics. Find time for friends, hobbies, and relationships. All of these things will help you become not just a well-rounded student, but a fully formed human being.</p>
<p>Don’t pay attention to how other people try to value you (whether through grades, stats, awards, whatever). Worth should come from the self.</p>
<p>Take time to become friends with your teachers. They’re deep sources of information, guidance, and recommendations (that last one is a half-jest; it is true).</p>
<p>Lastly, don’t greet people with salutations. (:P)</p>
<p>Don’t go to an Ivy for the name, go to an Ivy because that’s the type of environment (both learning and social) you want to be in.</p>
<p>As Francaisalamatt said, learning is more important than school. If you don’t know what we mean, you will soon.</p>
<p>If you don’t feel like doing something, but are worried you might regret missing out on it, DO IT. This is probably the most important tip I can give you, period.</p>
<p>You should approach your high school at a rather direct angle. Otherwise, you risk the chance of walking past it entirely. </p>
<p>All joking aside, </p>
<p>THINGS I WISH I HAD KNOWN BEFORE ENTERING HIGH SCHOOL - by Skarpi</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Freshman Year ** Counts **. By the time you apply to colleges you will have 3 years of grades on your transcript. Thus, Freshman Year is worth 1/3 of those grades. You ** definitely ** want to be taking those honors classes in freshman year. They truly are GPA boosters and will help you maintain a high GPA throughout high school. Trust me man/girl, all the top kids in my grade right now (I’m a Junior) are at the top because they pwned Freshman Year as well as the other years. If you are not currently in any Honors courses, request that your schedule be changed. Make the case that you are serious about your academics and don’t want Freshman Year hampering your chances of success. </p></li>
<li><p>Extracurricular Activities: The key here is depth, not breadth. Figure out what you want to do in College and for the rest of your life (It doesn’t have to be final obviously) and work to develop those interests. Point of reference, one of my buddies who graduated last year was heavily interested in politics during middle school. Thus, he joined the Debate Team and won many awards. He was also active in Politics Club and all sorts of out of school politics stuff. He was able to impress the colleges he applied to with his high level of political acumen. Thus, he was accepted to 2 out of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Colleges want a well-rounded class, not well rounded individuals. They want the math genius rooming next to the International Relations junkie. </p></li>
<li><p>SATs: I’m going to help you out here. Take Biology during Freshman year. Take it in May first. If you feel that you did well, keep the score. If you want to re-take, take it in June. If you can’t break 700 on those two tries, study over the summer and break it during October. Do the same thing for chemistry during sophomore year. Then, all you will have to worry about Junior Year is SAT II Math and the regular SAT. Start prepping for the SAT (just going over Direct Hits vocabulary or Barrons) in Sophomore Year. Then go hardcore over the summer. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t be afraid to dream. - Never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. </p></li>
<li><p>Keep both Short Term and Long Term goals in mind - Long Term goals help you create short term goals that lead you towards a certain purpose. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you follows these steps closely, you will make life way easier on yourself. Rule #1 is especially important. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>Also, since when did we 2012’ers become the ones to dispense High School advice? I feel so old :/</p>
<p>^ me too I remember being a freshman…oh gosh. Don’t take freshman year lightly. Work hard! Like someone said above, it’s 1/3 of your transcript. Impress them by working hard! </p>
<p>Of course extracurriculars are important! Trust me, you need something outside of classwork to keep you sane. The last thing you need is to be braindead from just focusing on school. Not only do extracurricular activities keep you from failing all your classes (that is if your school requires good grades to participate) but it gives you something fun to do, so pick something you are interested in or something you love to do. It’s a great way to meet new people and gain a new perspective. And colleges like to see what you are interested in, and how those things you do outside of classwork make you a unique individual.</p>
I remember being a freshman…oh gosh. Don’t take freshman year lightly. Work hard! Like someone said above, it’s 1/3 of your transcript. Impress them by working hard! </p>![http://i.imgur.com/yX6C2.png"]high](http://i.imgur.com/yX6C2.png%22%5Dhigh){kind=link}
