<p>My high school is an easy public with severe grade inflation and an atmosphere that promotes, or "enables" procrastination, Sparknotes, and superficial learning.</p>
<p>I don't feel like I've done anything meaningful in high school.</p>
<p>Okay okay, I admit there's another side to my problem.</p>
<p>I'm mostly to blame because I stubbornly slipped into a habit of laziness so that I didn't even derive the few useful skills that I'm sure slipped by in the curriculum sometime in the past 4 years.</p>
<p>I feel like I'm going to be way out of my league. I won't talk about my horrid concentration, time management, and organization here because I know that's a universal feeling.
Yet I have deficiencies in more tangible areas like: constructing a research paper, dissecting literature without outside help, possessing a reservoir of background historical knowledge, comprehending beyond the formulas in calculus, writing a stellar lab report without spoonfeeding, delivering an oral presentation, and, yikes, actually taking non-multiple-choice tests.</p>
<p>I've technically "done" all these things in my high school career, but I feel like I've skipped too many steps along the way.</p>
<p>I know that it's far more important to fix my study habits, but what do you think are the best SPECIFIC THINGS for me to do between now and college to prepare myself?</p>
<p>I plan on attending Swarthmore this fall, unless I get off the UChicago waitlist.</p>
<p>Pu-lease, you can only blame yourself, not your high school. Who cares what you did in high school, just tell yourself to get organized and do it. You have to learn you are the only one you can count on in this world.</p>
<p>do you go to my high school? lol. im exactly the same. i think in a way, high schools really disadvantage smart kids. i have never had to work in my life in school and i have the exact same feelings and worries about college. i'm attending a top 5 LAC next year, and everyone there probably can whip off a 5 page essay about some novel in no time. i have written 1 essay all year. in most of my classes i can just memorize formulas without understanding any of it. i have NEVER lived up to my full potential for anything in HS. i always seem to be "good enough" for my teachers because there was simply no competition. most of my peers next year can probably understand poetry on their own, or know all sorts of stuff about history that i just crammed for before the tests. </p>
<p>I was in a similar situation coming out of high school. During my first semester of English, I felt like giving up, because I felt that I never had the resources my classmate were exposed to. I think most colleges will have resources to help you. Making a commitment to sticking it out to the end is probably the most important thing, don't give up. </p>
<p>I had dropped a class the first semester because I failed the first quiz, and I realized that was my nerves and fears getting to me. After the first semester of college, you naturally develop the work habit and work ethic that is needed, especially if you care.</p>
<p>I think you taking the initiative to want to prepare now is the best thing you could do.
I would recommend checking out books from alibrary or buying books that teach you how to do those things like construct a research paper, dissecting literature etc.</p>
<p>My best example of how I was able to turn things around the first semester, that I'm most proud of is my experience with the English class. I had failed my midterm, which was one of the four or five major things that was taken into consideration for our semester grade. THat made me panic. I had my first major paper to turn in, and it was the first paper I had ever done in terms of an MLA format or any college level paper, and I happen to end up getting an A on it, something all my classmates were surprised by, because they knew where I was coming from. Alot of it is just not giving up and trying.</p>
<p>you'll be fine, my high school was a joke. just sign up for no more than one writing-intensive course and no more than one reading-intensive course in your first semester. and the student isn't always the one to blame. e.g., my HS had no APs (i had to go off campus the last 2 periods of the day to take calculus at a nearby college my senior year, and then I still had to make up work for those two classes). we had no languages until my junior year either, and even then, it was only Spanish. I studied German and Russian independently outside of high school though. but I never learned anything useful in HS besides algebra, calculus, german, and russian, and algebra was the only thing that was actually IN school of those. I really wish I had gone to a HS with APs... I don't think I would have overloaded with APs like some kids do, but I definitely wish I could have taken 2 calc AP classes and 2 CS AP classes.</p>
<p>Um, just to say about awb's post: A LOT OF SWARTHMORE'S CLASSES ARE WRITING INTENSIVE. Humanities classes especially (obviously). When you're choosing your classes, ask current students about how the workload would be- you don't want to be too heavy on problem sets or on papers, and students really would know how to balance their workload. If you don't have a good reason for it, don't take that extra fifth class. Depending on your major, you might have to learn how to right well very quickly.</p>
<p>But luckily for you, Swarthmore has an amazing writing center and WAs, which are Writing Associates- they're students that are trained to help you write essays. They can do anything from helping you outline/organize it, or just read it over. Really, don't be afraid to use the WAs and writing center. They're really helpful. (I don't go to Swat but one of my friends is one, haha). I also had a lot of the same worries as you when I was applying to Swat, and I still am plagued with thoughts of "Oh crap, what am I going to do when I can't write a 20 page paper?" </p>
<p>OH! And I almost forgot! Remember that your first semester is pass/fail, so that should give you some time to get some help with your writing skills without hurting your GPA. After that, I think you can take 4 more pass/fail classes...</p>
<p>Anywho, I'm going to Bryn Mawr next year and I'm definitely going to take a class or so at Swat, so know that there's people out there that at least feel the same way as you do... </p>
<p>Or maybe you're actually brilliant and you're just not confident enough? I don't know.</p>
<p>yeah, I suppose my post was just general advice. I do see swarthmore as being writing/liberal arts intensive. I go to a school stronger in the sciences though.</p>
<p>Ew, I just realized that I accidently wrote 'right' instead of 'write.' I hate how you can't edit the posts past 20 minutes. Ewwwww. Ah well, sometimes your fingers just auto-pilot and type the wrong word...</p>
<p>...Anywho. To make this post a little more worthwhile, I feel like I should mention the pass/fail semester again. And take a class on academic writing! Isn't a writing class required at Swat? I sort of forget...</p>
<p>You just have to deal with the fact that you're going to have to apply yourself more in college. Everyone does. You're not going to cruise through college. You've done a good thing though; you've realized that you "weren't prepared" by high school. This means you should push yourself more in college. That's all.</p>
<p>There is a book I recommend every student should own, and you should buy it now before school starts. Its called What Smart Students Know by Adam Robinson, written by one of the founders of the test prep service Princeton Review. I have never seen a better explanation of the steps you need to follow to really <em>learn</em> the material for all types of classes (sciences, liberal arts, etc), and if you've learned it well the grades will take care of themselves. </p>
<p>There are no "secrets" in the book to let you magically get top grades with no work, but a lot of people spend their time unproductively until they figure out what works and what doesn't. Why not read this book over the summer and come in prepared?</p>
<p>Unless you go to a good private high school or something, college is pretty much always going to be a step up from high school. A lot of people will be in the same boat as you are, so I wouldn't worry too much. That you're worrying is a good sign that you still care, maybe enough to start fresh in college. </p>
<p>That isn't to say that you should blame your high school, though. I have a friend who took AP physics, which was a complete joke class at my high school. He blames his teacher for not preparing him, and tells everyone that he never took physics in high school. True, the course wasn't rigorous at all, but all it really took to learn physics was to do all the worksheets that the teacher handed out and ask questions. At least the teacher was there, and though he didn't really teach, he knew his stuff and was a good resource. </p>
<p>I don't mean to accuse you or anything. You'll probably meet people from rich private schools, and you would be justified in saying that they've had better learning opportunities than you have. But unless your high school is one of those severely underprivileged inner city high schools, it's more than likely that your school (any average American high school) offers everything you need to prepare for college.</p>