^^ Yes; typo errors in translation of transcripts is common; proof them carefully.
<pre><code>Other advice: Don’t judge Universities on their ranking; UCB is tops, but this rating IS ON ITS GRADUATE performance, and R&D. If you rank it by the NUMBER of Undergrads that go on to Graduate School, it RANKS AMONG the lowest!!! In CA, UC Davis ranks tops in this last time I checked.
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Visit schools before you apply.
Recommendation letters are more important than you think; don’t blow them off.
Your guidance counselor will probably forget.
WRITE YOUR ESSAY ABOUT SOMETHING YOU LOVE (NO MATTER WHAT THAT IS). Looking back on my acceptances (and rejections), the consistent theme was that in schools that I was competitive, but not a lock for (schools who didn’t emphasize test scores in my case), I was accepted to the ones where my Essay showed my quirky personality, and rejected from the ones where I wrote about “serious topics”.
Now you may think that you are an amazing writer, and that you can pull off the ultra-serious essay, and maybe you can! However, I got into Rice with an essay about cooking catastrophes and by using a Chuck Norris picture in my personal “box”.
…Just my experiences.
This is quite interesting .
^^Chuck Norris? Really? That’s pretty awesome.
My only message is that you not trust the information in the “books” because in the past 2 years the process has gotten a whole lot harder-- the numbers have skyrocketed and what might have seemed to some as “safeties” are now in the mix for kids or even “reaches” (for example one of the schools my son was admitted to UChi was his “safety” yet it had a 42% increase in applications and while he got into it, it scared the devil out of him waiting in the Spring once the number of applications became known.) Harvard where he is going got over 30,000 applications–that’s insane-- that he was admitted has as much good fortune as anything else with those application figures (and this was a kid with 800M 780V & ave of 780 on SAT2s-- with grades and some major international prizes for music composition).
The process has come off the rails (and again, no sour grapes here) and unless something is done, more kids are going to burn themselves out trying to find the magic “hook” and paranoid parents are going to shell out big bucks to “consultants” to make themselves feel like they “did” everything.
Finally, don’t take it personally-- and don’t try to figure it out–my S got into Caltech, UChi and Harvard and rejected (not waitlisted) at Brown and Yale (and he is a triple legacy at Yale, and told by the music people “you’re in”) and has no relationship with the schools that said yes.
Make sense? Nope. But there it is.
**Dont start too early. **
I see people on CC who are freshmen or sophomores.
This is my ideal timeline for the college admissions process.
Freshman Year: Get good grades.
Sophomore Year: Take the PSAT, analyze the results, work on your weaknesses. Study for the SAT during the summer.
Junior Year: Take the PSAT. Take the SAT in the spring. Start shopping around CC to get college advice or make a list of where youd like to apply. Start trying to write some essays in the summer. Take the ACT in the spring/summer.
Senior Year: Take the SAT/ACT again if need-be. Narrow down your college choices. Write your final essays and apply. Its okay if you do all of your applications over winter break; I did!
Things I wish I’d known? Don’t have your kids 4 yrs apart-- not only don’t you get the benefit of 2 kids in school simultaneously for FAFSA purposes (though some schools will consider grad school, but thats another story) but, as happened to us, the HS graduation for one, and college graduation for the other can land on the SAME MORNING!! Plan ahead 
If you’re strong in math and weak in English, lead with the ACT and only take SAT subject test, if at all. DS had a 200 point advantage when the ACT was converted to SAT. But first check that the schools you’re interested in take ACT, which most do, but there are exceptions.
Be very careful that you understand that “scholarship” could mean many different things - sometimes it’s a grant that you never have to repay and other times, it’s a loan.
Addendum to the previous post-- if you are not very fast in test-taking, take the SAT. My s (good at math, not as good in English) did better on the SAT than ACT b/c he couldnt get thorugh all the reading passages on the ACT. While both are timed, ACT tends to be more sensitive to the time issue.
Good point 626 - DS did actually mention the speed issue, which because “he just finished in time”, was probably a plus too. Best for someone to do a dry run to see how they stand.
I applied EA at MIT and Caltech and rolling at Michigan. Deferred at MIT and Caltech, in a Mich. Then I got rejected by MIT and waitlisted at Caltech, and I just assumed I’d get rejected everywhere else and end up having to go to Michigan. But, then I visited the school and loved it! I ended up getting in almost everywhere else, but I really would have been happy at Michigan. I guess I wish I knew that I actually liked Michigan from the beginning so I wouldn’t have been so upset and stressed out about the rest of the college admissions process.
What do you do if your strength is in English? Weak in math but a fast reader would be better off with ACT?
that i had a more open mind in terms of the college that i wanted to go to. I focused almost entirely on yale for the entirety of my high school career. when i got rejected, my acceptance to Bowdoin and the amazing FA package i got from them was tarnished because i was focused on the fact that i had gotten rejected from yale; i hadnt even though about the fact that i was admitted elsewhere and that it was perfect for me.
i wish that i had gone on college visits (unfortunately it was financially impossible for me and plus my parents told me that they “didnt believe” in college visits)
i wish that i hadnt gotten caught up in the whole “ivy league” craze and had instead looked for places that i would feel like i belonged there.
im glad that i took the initiatve in looking for scholarship opportunities (my guidance counselor is pretty sucky for anyone who wants to go out of state) otherwise i wouldnt have found out about QuestBridge, which has been absolutely instrumental in funding my way through college.
I wish I wouldn’t have been so caught up in the admissions process. I made it my goal in high school that no matter what I get after leaving high school, I get accepted to BYU. Everything else about high school was pretty trivial to me. Looking back, I probably should have realized earlier on that I was basically guaranteed acceptance because I was a perfect fit. So in that sense, I wouldn’t have stressed as much about getting in because it was sure from the start.
I actually just finished high school and I am reading all the posts in this thread for help, so thanks! 
I just wanted to add what my brother tells me repeatedly about applying: forget about what my parents say about certain schools (I am an international student and my parents don’t really know much about american universities), listen to people which have had experience before (right here I guess, and my teachers), if you can’t narrow down a list of colleges to apply then don’t you are better off trying your luck with all the colleges you want to go, don’t forget to apply to at least one - two schools which are ‘better’ than you can bargain for (‘reach’ schools as some of you said).
I think the most important would be doing a bunch of research and trying to visit colleges, after all that might just be the place you are going to be living in most of the time in the near future. I am going to visit some uni’s in August and I am sure that’ll help me make my decisions.
So what sort of lessons did you guys learn about HS GPA’s vs Challenge.
Ie 3.6-3.7 vs 4.0 no honors AP etc
Depends on the selectivity of the colleges you are applying to. For more selective schools you must have both…high grades in the most difficult classes your high school offers.
Make sure that you would be happy attending EVERY school you apply to. Finding safety schools that you actually like should be a priority at the beginning of the entire admissions process. If you don’t want to go to a school, don’t bother applying.
Also–know that there are always exceptions in college admissions. CC forums are filled “cutoff” GPAs and SATs, but there is no such thing. More people get into their reach schools than you would expect.
I’m a HS Junior right now. I wish I had known about CC when I was a Freshman…