Your college career does not begin the day you walk into your first college class, it starts from the time you enter high school. High school is the foundation that is used to catapult your collegiate career.
If you have recently started high school (freshman & sophomore):
- Work on building and maintaining your GPA.
- Get involved in extracurricular activities such as student government, sports, volunteer work, etc.
- Find at least two teachers you like and trust. Get to know them well because you will need letters of recommendations when it is time to apply to college.
- Consider taking college courses at your local college or university to start receiving college credits.
If you are applying to college within the next year:
- Continue improving your grades.
- Make a list of all the schools you are interested in applying to; include the address, majors, contact person if listed, tuition and admission fee.
- Begin studying for the ACT/SAT (contact each of the colleges on your list to find out which one they accept).
- Look at the ranking of the program that you are interested in pursuing.
- Look into work study/internships if there is a specific area you are interested in pursuing as a major.
- Think about how far you are willing to travel or move to attend the college of your choice.
- Have a conversation with your parents about how you will pay for college. If they are unable to offer financial help, look into financial aid, scholarships, grants, work study, etc.
- Contact your top schools and ask for fee waivers. The worst that can happen is they decline your request.
- Once you start receiving acceptance letters, take a college tour of the campus.
- Before you make your decision, reach out to those schools and request scholarship money (or an increase from what they are offering). Keep in mind that you must make a strong argument as to why they should give you more money.
- Make schools compete for you by lowering the price that you will have to pay.
If you are currently enrolled in college:
- Find a study spot.
- Pinpoint your major by end of freshman year.
- Beware of classes that do not give you credits towards your degree.
- Write out every class that you need to graduate timely on a sheet of paper (or word doc). If you plan on finishing in four years, then make a four year plan. If you are intending on completing your degree in three years, make a three year plan.
- Most departments have a requirement worksheet to chart your progress.
- If your school does not have a structured mentoring program, seek out a Professor in your area of interest for guidance.
No comments:
Post a Comment