Lost on the trail of life

Applying to College
1

<p>Trying to start fresh, what to do?
I recently graduated high school, I'll just give you my record</p>

<p>9th/10th/11th-
Straight A's in most difficult classes, no good teacher relationships, no focus,
participated in many activities, didn't excel in any</p>

<p>Got accepted to the University of Pittsburgh Honors College, 1550 SAT, around 700's on subject tests, no AP</p>

<p>12th-
Skipped 40 days of school (out of 180) B's and C's, quit all activities</p>

<p>Started looking at my future and fear being ill prepared and having a college career like the one I did in the first three years of high school, one with no energy or focus, just getting by obsessing about grades and working for a couple of lines of text on a resume, whatever people say is required for the next step</p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate advice on how to proceed, I was thinking about doing shadow studies and trying to find what I want to do/look at my skills and personality to find a career and volunteering for a year and studying, working to be prepared for whatever that is, then going to college after a year of gap</p>

<p>I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for career exploration, my skills and personality generally fit science
Also for volunteering I was thinking Americorps, any suggestions or opinions on the program are appreciated
Do you guys have a real focus? How did you find it?</p>

2

<p>I’m a little confused if you can still go to Pitt. But if not, you might want to look at a college that emphasizes work experience semesters like Northeastern does (although for most students I think it’s important to look at academic quality as the foremost criteria.) I wonder how much of a sense of a job you can get shadowing someone for a few days…Volunteer activities would definitely help and maybe a few of them rather than one like Americorp. Check idealist.org which lists volunteer opportunities and internships and try to get into an organization large enough that you can become familiar with the different roles people play.</p>

3

<p>I think you already received some good advice on one of your other four threads about this same topic.</p>