After talking to my college-bound brothers for over a year now, I want to let other high school students in on what my brothers and I have discussed. They seemed SO clueless at the start of our conversations that involved anything but high school, and I want you to avoid that.
Let's begin.
1. Take your SATs early.
If you haven't taken your SATs yet, do it. Go onto CollegeBoard and schedule to take the SATs. If you take them your junior year and you're not happy with your score than you have plenty of time to take them. The best thing about the SAT is that you can take them as early as you want, AND as many times as you want. Take them every time they have them if you want (and if you can afford it), or take them once. It's all up to you.
Looking back now, I wish I had taken the SAT more than once, maybe I would have gotten scholarship money, maybe I would have been accepted into the schools honor program. So many "maybe's" that could have been answered had I taken the SATs one more time. I know they're a hassle, but they only take up a few hours, and they help you move onto bigger and better things in your life.
2. There are a lot of possible programs to choose from when determining what you want to study.
My brothers have never actually said, “Oh... I didn’t know college had more majors other than the basic high school courses”, you know, Biology, English, Mathematics, History. But I have a feeling they weren’t aware of this.
I am a first generation college student. Neither of my parents went to college, and none of their parents went either. I wasn’t even aware of all of the programs my school had until I was actually there (which led to a change of major, TWICE).
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I stayed overnight at the university I would soon be attending, but as soon as I stepped onto campus I knew it was A LOT different than high school. I heard people talking about Theater exams, Sociology exams, English Literature exams. My (at the time) 17 year old brain was SPINNING, can the Pre-Med students help with that?!
Look up your future school's undergraduate website, go to their majors list, and see which programs you might like. Take note from a personal experience of mine - you may be super interested in something in high school, but once you get to college you may HATE it.
3. Do not declare a major going into your freshman year.
After looking at your school's major list, do not settle for one that you think you’ll like. You need to LOVE your major. You will be doing this for the rest of your life. You will be studying this for 4+ years. You need to be able to live and breathe your major. College should be fun, and you should overall enjoy the material you are learning. Which is why you get to pick what you will be learning! Right now, you're probably somewhere between 15 and 18. How do you know what you want to study for the rest of your life? Without ever stepping on a college campus? Chances are, you probably don't, I know I didn't.
When applying don’t put “Intended Major - Psychology” (guilty), talk to your university about what you should put if you are not ready to declare a major. Not only may you have a better opportunity of acceptance to certain universities, but it will give you time to explore classes and get your general studies out of the way.
If you take anything from this article, take the advice above. I'm begging you. My GPA showed just how much I did not like my "Intended Major". I thought I would love Psychology because I LOVED it in High School, but learning it in college made me realize that the subject just wasn't for me.
4. Apply to more than one school! Do. Not. Limit. Yourself.
In high school, I was told to apply for "my dream school, a reach school, and a school I knew I would definitely get into". I am sharing this with you because this was THE BEST advice I heard when applying to colleges.
Limiting yourself to one school is so dangerous. If you only apply to one school, and you don't get accepted, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?! Your only hope in this case is hoping that if you do (I hope you don't) get denied from the only school you applied to, that you'll still have time to submit applications to other schools before their deadlines. AVOID THIS! Seriously, apply to more than one school. I applied to three. I recommend consulting your guidance counselor at school and seeing what recommendations they have for schools you should be applying to.
Apply in state, out of state, community college, ivy leagues. JUST APPLY TO MORE THAN ONE!
I really wish I had someone to give me this advice in detail when I was in high school! I hope this helps with your future college applications process! Check back next week for more tips on college applications, and college experiences in general!
