Preparing for college admissions is a journey that begins with how you choose your high school courses and activities. If you take the easiest path possible, you are routing yourself toward colleges with a lower bar for entrance requirements and you may be closing doors to future opportunities.
To get into the schools you want to attend, you will need to set yourself up to be the best candidate for college admissions. Go the extra mile by taking AP and honors courses instead of easy classes, volunteer your time in the community and philanthropic organizations, sharpen your talents in your favorite activities and explore career paths through job shadowing.
Succeeding in high school isn’t always enough, however. There are many other steps you must take in order to attend the college of your dreams, and careful planning is vital to college success. These are the major checkpoints you will encounter during your college planning process:
The College Search Process: During this stage, you will research and learn about all the colleges that offer programs and campus environments that meet your needs, interests, strengths and goals. You should visit as many of the schools in person as possible, attend college nights at your high school, and buy books that list college profiles. The earlier you start this search, the more time you have to sort through your college options to build your final search list. It’s never too early to get started.
The College Application Process: As you make your way through high school, whether you know it or not, you are building your college application. Coursework, grade point average, extracurricular activities, volunteer and community work, jobs, internships, SAT and ACT scores, your letters of recommendation -- all of these are important aspects of your college application. As a senior, you will want to have the strongest application possible to present to the college admissions officers.