JesusIsAlive wrote:So, how are you preparing for college?
Well, of course, I'm done preparing, but that means I'm in a great position to offer (somewhat opinionated
) advice, because I've just been through it. The first thing to do is take lots of SATs and ACTs. I know you're very familiar with that already, but anyway, yeah, take those until you've got a score you're happy with. I only took the ACT, because it was a better fit for the way I think, and I was happy with my score the first time I took it, but I didn't take the writing section that time, so I had to do it again the next year. My score went down by two points the second time, but it was fine, because what got sent in was a composite of my first test, and the writing section from the second. That's the nice thing about the ACT - colleges only get the best, instead of everything, like they do with the SAT.
Also, visiting campuses is very important. Most colleges look awfully nice from their websites. And then you eat in the cafeteria. And see the dorms - the freshman dorms.
Also, you get a feel for the atmosphere of the campus. Talking to students is a really good way to find out stuff, because college students are really honest about their schools.
Final thing is scholarships. In this economy, and in my family, I would not be going to college without one. There are a lot of scholarships that you can try for on the internet (more on that later), but the biggie (unless you're going to a state school) is the one you receive from the college where you're going. At my school, there are three tiers of academic scholarships, and the eligibility is determined by standardized test scores. I was eligible for the top academic scholarship, which sure was nice, but I had to go the the school for a weekend and interview with three professors to compete against 80 other people for the scholarship. So there's work involved as well. Also, they had scholarships for music majors and athletic scholarships. I'm not sure how that works, because I didn't try for those. The really cool thing that my school does is to automatically give a $1,000 scholarship to anyone who was homeschooled their senior year. That was really nice for me. And about a third of the students there were homeschooled, so I think a lot of other people appreciated that, as well.
Sorry, this is really long. Still with me? By the way, the number one thing about preparing for college is to do things on time. In fact, do everything way before it's due. I'm a procrastinator, and I'll admit it. But I didn't procrastinate about college stuff. I applied to my school in September of my senior year. I was accepted two weeks later. And then I watched a lot of my friends stressing about getting everything done and getting accepted until about last month. You don't want to be one of those people.
JesusIsAlive wrote:What are you looking for in a college?
I probably have different criteria than most anybody else, but maybe some of it will resonate with you, and even give you ideas you hadn't thought of before. So, in no particular order:
1. Christian (This is really important to me, and here's the thing - there are a lot of "Christian" colleges that really aren't. Like the one my parents went to: Southern Baptist affiliation, but with liberal professors and a bunch of students with drinking problems.)
2. Proximity to home (I didn't particularly want to go to a college that was across the country, so I decided to see if I could find a college that met my other criteria within my state, or adjacent states. Unfortunately, there were no colleges in my state that I liked, but the one I'm going to is in an adjacent state, about 5 hours from where I live. Of course, that's definitely not the case for a lot of people. I met a girl at my scholarship weekend who was from Arizona, and ended up deciding on a school in Arkansas.)
3. Size (Having been homeschooled all my life, I know for a fact that I do better in small classes. If that's important to you, look for the class size ratio. Mine is 13:1 on average.)
4. Structured, but not suffocatingly so (Ok, so I wanted to go to a Christian college, and that comes with rules based on Biblical values. I am definitely cool with that. But here's the thing - some Christian schools are wacky. They have a lot of rules that aren't based on the Bible, but on legalism. So, I think it's good to be modest, but I'm not going to give up my jeans for ankle-length skirts 24/7. I like my music, and while it's not offensive, it's definitely rock. So if you don't want to get slapped with a bunch of rules you don't agree with, ask for a community life handbook, or something of that nature. Read through the whole thing. Seriously.)
5. Academics (If I'm going to college, I want one with good teachers and good classes. And I don't want to go to school with a bunch of slackers. And I bet that you don't, either. So look for ways to find out the quality of the schools you're interested in. This is the most useful site, in my opinion:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college
Just type in names of schools you're interested in, and it'll give you the tier, and the ranking (as long as it's in a high tier. Sometimes a school is too low in the tiers to be rated. I think they rate the top 100 or something.)
6. Food (It sounds silly, but it's not. If you have to eat in the same place for four years, you really want the food to be pretty good. Eat in the cafeteria of any college you're interested in. Is there variety? Does the food taste good? Seriously, it's important. At one of the colleges I visited, the food was nasty, and apparently we were getting the good stuff because it was a special weekend thing. I asked one of the students what the food was like normally, and he was like, "Yeah, I pretty much eat cereal for every meal."
Don't be that guy.
JesusIsAlive wrote:Know of any good scholarship websites?
Fastweb. No doubt, it's the best. You do a survey thing so it knows what kind of person you are, what you're interested in, and for which scholarships you would be eligible. Then it gives you links to scholarships on your profile. And you can sort them by deadline, which is so incredibly useful.
JesusIsAlive wrote:Have you entered for any scholarships? Or better yet, won any?
The easy answer to that is yep, and nope. Here are the scholarships I've won. Presidential academic scholarship from my school, Homeschool scholarship from my school, scholarship from my state homeschool group.
Yeah, okay. The sad truth is that while I'm a good student and upstanding citizen, I'm four things that kill me in scholarship competitions. White, Christian, middle-class, and homeschooled. If you want to be perfectly honest, most scholarship committees really like minorities, people of any religion other than Christianity, people with major financial need, and public-schoolers. What can I say, it's a politically correct world. And the essay topics reflect that. Maybe you can make yourself write from that perspective - I'm not very good at doing that. My convictions are really strong, and it's hard to write the opposite of what I believe. But doing so can get you money, so if you can bring yourself to do it, go for it.
JesusIsAlive wrote:Do you know what you want to major in? What about a minor?
I'm going to major in English. I had to narrow it down from about four possibilities, but that's what I'm going for. I'm not considering minoring in anything at this point, because I think I'm going to be busy enough.
JesusIsAlive wrote:Are you taking any dual-credit classes?
I never did, but I can tell you that a lot of my friends did, and several of them started college as Sophomores. Do you have any idea how much time and money that saves? I don't really regret that I didn't do that, but I think I would recommend it.
Alrighty, well, I could say more, but I'll spare you.
But if you have any more specific questions, I bet I'd have some answers, and you can always pm me. I hope it's been helpful, and good luck in your college search!