The entire college process is an intimidating one. When it comes to studying for the SAT, searching for the right college, polishing your essays to perfection, paying up to hundreds of dollars in application fees and more, everything can snowball into an extremely stressful undertaking.
First, breathe. It's okay to be scared, because almost everyone around you will be going through the process at the same time that you are. The college pressure of aiming for those perfect test scores and trying to get into big name colleges is draining and your mental health comes first.
There's a big misconception that you're supposed to know exactly where you want to go and what you plan to do with your life by the time the applications are due. If you do have a solid plan, that's great! Kudos to you for knowing a lot about yourself. However, if you're not quite there yet, that's perfectly okay as well. I didn't know that I wanted to major in Political Science until the end of my Junior year, when I started really considering how my interests could correlate to a major. Even then, I may decide to switch up my major, like 80% of college students tend to do. (It's a real statistic -- look it up.) My point is, college is a space to grow as a human and part of that growth encompasses the discovery of what you want to do with your life.
I offer five pieces of advice to anyone who is considering going to college.
1. Set the foundation for yourself.
It's true that there's a lot of things that test scores and grades fail to measure. Unfortunately, they do make you eligible for certain things, including financial aid, scholarships, and more. To make things easier for yourself, do your best to set the foundation from freshman year by maintaining good grades and staying on track to graduate.
Going back to how you're more than grades and test scores, your extracurriculars actually do say more about you as a person, and colleges recognize that. My first year of high school, I actually didn't involve myself in any extracurriculars besides theater, but I did focus on getting good grades. Sophomore year is when I began to participate in school more. Join stuff if you haven't already. It's actually really rewarding because you meet people with similar interests and you become a part of a community. However, it's important to stick to things that genuinely reflect your own interests. A million clubs that have nothing to do with what you want won't help you very much. In fact, on the UC application, the activities section limits you to list only 5 extracurriculars. This is because colleges want to hear what your most significant contributions were. Rather than joining a bunch of clubs solely because it looks good on an application, try to concentrate your efforts on a few things that really matter to you.
2. Use your resources.
Look for resources and use them. All of them. Whether it's going to the College and Career center, reaching out to your counselors, talking with current college students, going to college fairs, or doing your own research, the age of information has blessed us with the ability to prepare ourselves for the college process. Not only does using these resources help you figure out what the heck you need to do to prepare, your resourcefulness will show colleges that you take initiative and are determined to pursue higher education. There's an entire section of college apps dedicated to listing out what educational programs you've taken advantage of throughout your high school career.
3. Give yourself time.
Start a little early with college research and brainstorming your essays. By early, I mean, like, the summer before senior year. That's when I got started.
During that summer, I spent a lot of time figuring out where I wanted to apply to. There's so many colleges out there -- each so different -- that finding the right fit can be a huge challenge. I narrowed down my selections with the help of spreadsheets and the internet. I made a list of factors that were important to me in choosing what colleges I wanted to go to. Was I interested in a liberal arts or research school? Big school with huge lecture classes or small, seminar-style classes?
The gift of spreadsheets also came in handy when I was applying to several university that all wanted anywhere from two to four essays each. It sounds like a ton, but in reality, a lot these prompts are very similar and you can actually recycle them for other college applications and even scholarships. On my spreadsheet, I listed out what questions each college I wanted to apply to asked, the word limit, and then my rough ideas.
First, breathe. It's okay to be scared, because almost everyone around you will be going through the process at the same time that you are. The college pressure of aiming for those perfect test scores and trying to get into big name colleges is draining and your mental health comes first.
There's a big misconception that you're supposed to know exactly where you want to go and what you plan to do with your life by the time the applications are due. If you do have a solid plan, that's great! Kudos to you for knowing a lot about yourself. However, if you're not quite there yet, that's perfectly okay as well. I didn't know that I wanted to major in Political Science until the end of my Junior year, when I started really considering how my interests could correlate to a major. Even then, I may decide to switch up my major, like 80% of college students tend to do. (It's a real statistic -- look it up.) My point is, college is a space to grow as a human and part of that growth encompasses the discovery of what you want to do with your life.
I offer five pieces of advice to anyone who is considering going to college.
1. Set the foundation for yourself.
It's true that there's a lot of things that test scores and grades fail to measure. Unfortunately, they do make you eligible for certain things, including financial aid, scholarships, and more. To make things easier for yourself, do your best to set the foundation from freshman year by maintaining good grades and staying on track to graduate.
Going back to how you're more than grades and test scores, your extracurriculars actually do say more about you as a person, and colleges recognize that. My first year of high school, I actually didn't involve myself in any extracurriculars besides theater, but I did focus on getting good grades. Sophomore year is when I began to participate in school more. Join stuff if you haven't already. It's actually really rewarding because you meet people with similar interests and you become a part of a community. However, it's important to stick to things that genuinely reflect your own interests. A million clubs that have nothing to do with what you want won't help you very much. In fact, on the UC application, the activities section limits you to list only 5 extracurriculars. This is because colleges want to hear what your most significant contributions were. Rather than joining a bunch of clubs solely because it looks good on an application, try to concentrate your efforts on a few things that really matter to you.
2. Use your resources.
Look for resources and use them. All of them. Whether it's going to the College and Career center, reaching out to your counselors, talking with current college students, going to college fairs, or doing your own research, the age of information has blessed us with the ability to prepare ourselves for the college process. Not only does using these resources help you figure out what the heck you need to do to prepare, your resourcefulness will show colleges that you take initiative and are determined to pursue higher education. There's an entire section of college apps dedicated to listing out what educational programs you've taken advantage of throughout your high school career.
3. Give yourself time.
Start a little early with college research and brainstorming your essays. By early, I mean, like, the summer before senior year. That's when I got started.
During that summer, I spent a lot of time figuring out where I wanted to apply to. There's so many colleges out there -- each so different -- that finding the right fit can be a huge challenge. I narrowed down my selections with the help of spreadsheets and the internet. I made a list of factors that were important to me in choosing what colleges I wanted to go to. Was I interested in a liberal arts or research school? Big school with huge lecture classes or small, seminar-style classes?
The gift of spreadsheets also came in handy when I was applying to several university that all wanted anywhere from two to four essays each. It sounds like a ton, but in reality, a lot these prompts are very similar and you can actually recycle them for other college applications and even scholarships. On my spreadsheet, I listed out what questions each college I wanted to apply to asked, the word limit, and then my rough ideas.
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| As you can probably assume... |
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| I love spreadsheets. |
Your essays are arguably the most important part of the application. This is where admissions officers can get the feel of who you are as a person, beyond the test scores and beyond the GPA. Be authentic. Take this time to genuinely reflect on who you are. If you find yourself learning about yourself, you're doing good. Get started on these essays early even if it's just word vomit on a page at first. In this part, it's important that your true voice shines.
5. Chill, dude.
Finally remember that it's not entirely about where you go, but what you do during your time there. I know that's lightweight annoying to hear from me but honestly, it's true.
Good luck to everyone, and feel free to come up to me for advice anytime whether it's in person or online! Catch me in Philly next year, y'all.
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| #upenn2021gangganggangrealrichrepresentmadeitoutthehood westcoastontheeastcoastbaystyleyaddayameangangang |
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ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you!
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