All the information presented to at College Planning Night seems like a nightmare to most aspiring sophomores and juniors; pair it with your parents standing up and screaming questions at a witty Mr. Travers who was set loose by the guidance department, on an hour and a half long speech. The night just seems daunting. But if you missed out on this informative night, all the information is here at your finger tips, everything from how to pick a college, how colleges choose you, when to take standardized tests, and so much more.
How to Choose a College
There are many major factors that you should consider when looking at colleges such as:
-Location/Size. (whether you want to go to a college bigger than North Penn or smaller your experience is extremely different)
-Academic interest/majors (when looking at colleges it is important to know what majors you’re interested and check if the colleges you are interested in have those majors)
-X factors (what is important )
-Cost (there is more later on financial aid, but make sure you and your parents are ok with the price of the college and are prepared for loans in the future that you may need to pay)
How Colleges Choose You
- Academic Performance (Of course colleges look at your grades and SAT/ACT scores, but they also look at how demanding your schedule is and how much your challenging yourself)
- Essays (everyone must send an essay to perspective colleges, but Mr. Travers suggested to prefect one essay and common application to send to schools that except common applications)
- Recommendations (many colleges look at what your teachers say about you as the truth so make sure to ask teachers to recommend you if they know you well and have good things to say)
- Activities and interests (colleges also want to know that you’re deeper than you’re grades. So any volunteer or new experiences that you think colleges would see as making you a better person would be a good plan to try)
- Interviews (some colleges will ask you in for an interview to see what you are really like. So while you are there it is important to put away your cell phone and always pay attention to what your interviewer is saying, and tell them everything that you think is special about you before leaving)
How to Prepare if You’re a Sophomore
-Keep your grades up
-Involve yourself in activities that interest you, make a list of achievements
-Take the PSAT and look on the Quick Start Website for college details. If you are not sure about what you want to do than there is a personality quiz you can take that shows you possible careers that you may like.
-Do preliminary research on what majors you may be interested in on:
Collegeboard.org
PrincetonReview.com
How to Prepare if You’re a Junior
-Keep up your grades
-Continue with activities
-Take the PSAT, even though you have to pay now it’s worth it
-Compile a list of potential schools
-During course selection pick courses that would look good to potential colleges
-Start visiting campuses to see college life and see what benefits you would want at your future college
Go to the NPHS College Fair on March 7, 2013 and the Financial Aid Night on March 14, 2013
-Take the SAT/ACT
Do I take the SAT or the ACT?
Since there are so many places to take the SAT around this area it may be easier to find a testing place. Contrary to many suspicions that ACT is not easier than the SAT, but the SAT is more commonly accepted by colleges in the east, the ACT is more popular in western colleges. So the best idea would be to check what kind of test your perceptive schools accept, it’s not a bad an idea to try both tests also.
Where do I find Financial Aid?
Sources:
Federal/State- www.fafsa.ed.gov
College and Career Center K025
www.Collegeboard.org
College Admission Websites