<p>Before you were being prepped for SAT on a daily basis, working on your application essays, and looking through tons of college brochures - mostly that time from freshmen year to beginning of junior year - what do you wish someone had told you about the whole college process?</p>
<p>Some of my cousins told me that they wished they had not goofed off so much, others said they wished they hadn't STRESSED out so much. </p>
<p>What advice would you give to a poor underclassman who is already getting swamped by all the college talk?</p>
<p>(Specific stuff would be best. Like: Sports aren't as important as you think if you are not regionally ranked or being recruited, so don't waste your time. (Is this true by the way?)</p>
<p><strong><em>BUMP THIS IF YOU, TOO, WANT TO KNOW MORE ANSWERS</em></strong></p>
<p>Choose the school you like because an employer is only going to care you got a degree and not really where it is from. I would also look at the cost most schools are similar and as I stated before if your schools are not top 25 and you are going to borrow it maybe smarter to look at who gives you the best financial package.</p>
<p>Get involved in stuff. Find summer programs or get a job. Do something. Wish I'd found this site three years ago instead of three months ago so I knew what I was supposed to be doing. Then I'd be set to go.</p>
<p>I didn't look at any brochures or information about a single one of the colleges that I applied to. I only visited one campus, and I only randomly applied to the one I'm going to because I was filling out the common application anyway. In retrospect, I should have at least looked at information about the campuses and the surrounding areas.</p>
<p>Oh, and I disagree with the thing about the sports. If you love the sport, it is worth the time. Not everything has to be a means to an end.</p>
<p>i agree with not getting too stressed out. if you choose schools you like, even if you're not accepted to your top choice, you'll probably be happy wherever you end up. </p>
<p>i also think you should really consider money when looking at colleges to apply. Talk to your parents and make sure you're aware of how much they're willing to contribute, and also figure out how much you think you'll be able to get through financial aid. i applied to tons of small LACs, but even with scholarships, i didn't get the financial aid i needed to be able to go (without taking out tons and tons of loans). i'm not saying that you shouldn't apply somewhere because you're not sure if you'll be able to afford it, just in my experience, applying to a ton of very expensive schools was a huge disappointement when it came to deciding on a school. i think its worse to be accepted by a school and then not be able to go because of money than to be simply denied.</p>
<p>I wish I'd known that, contrary to popular conceptions, sometimes you don't LOVE your school right away. Duke was ok at the beginning, but I felt like my friends at other schools were having so much more fun. But after two weeks or so, I finally found people I liked, and haven't looked back. It just didn't happen in the first 3 days, like I expected.</p>
<p>*When you're doing personal statements/college essays GET HELP FROM TEACHERS (as well as your friends)
*Do what you really like doing aka don't do it just for the application.
*Study hard, but also make sure to balance it out with fun with friends
*Don't take anything for granted</p>
<p>...I'm not in college yet, but I hope these things help.</p>
<p>Don't stress out so much! Okay, sure, prep for the SAT, but it makes me angry when I see people spending hours and hours and hours studying. Technically, you're not even supposed to study for it.</p>
<p>Also, you don't have to do everything. I remember when I first found CC, I panicked. "I haven't done research! I don't have a job! I've never interned! I'm not going to get in anywhere!!!" You don't have to do everything. Just do what you like, and don't worry about what you should or shouldn't be doing.</p>
<p>Finally, there's no such thing as a "dream school." You'll get rejected from some places, and get into some other colleges. In the end, you'll probably love where you end up. You'll find a niche whether you're at X University or Z College.</p>
<p>I think College Board makes it so you HAVE to study...they make old tests public, they send them out to tutoring centers, they publish their own SAT prep books, they have whole sections of study materials on their website, etc. etc. </p>
<p>But still, I get what you're saying. Why turn your life upside down to get into a place that you probably don't belong in/wouldnt like anyway, if you are freaking out so much?</p>
<p>Your GPA in high school only matters until the first day of college. Most college students can't even remember what they got on their SAT, let alone talk about it. College is a clean slate, so don't let your high school GPA bring you down (I 4.0'd a class my freshman fall quarter) and don't let it build you up either (that being said, my friend came in with a 3.67 and ended up with a 2.9 her first quarter).</p>