Scholarships

Paying for college is the scariest part, I think, about getting that higher education.  Many people take out way too many student loans and end up in debt for just about ever.  That’s why there are so many scholarships made available.  Most likely your college will have a “merit scholarship” which is the amount of money that they think that you deserve based on your academics.  You may play a sport, and if the school is not a D3 school, that will also get you some scholarship money.  Maybe you got a music scholarship, or you got into a special program at your school.  In most cases, you probably didn’t get a full-ride.  If you did, then I’m not sure you really need this information.

There are tons of websites that have lists and lists of scholarships.  Some have essays and supplements that you have to write, which are often very similar questions and you may end up re-using the same essay over and over.  College Board and Scholarship America are two very useful tools in your search for a college fund.  You should really apply for just about every scholarship that you find because all money is helpful, plus you never know which ones you may end up getting.

It is almost certain that your guidance office has tons of intimidating pamphlets and flyers and packets about a million and two different scholarships.  You should ask your counselor to help you to pick out the ones that are best suited for you.  There are also bunches of obscure scholarships as well.  For example, I heard of one for girls with blue eyes.  There are plenty of companies that have different scholarships for the most random and obscure things that you can imagine.  No matter what it is, you should apply to all of them.  You may end up coming out of college with no debt!

Stay Healthy

In college, you have access to a cafeteria with tons of food; it’s so easy to take advantage of.  Sure, the weight room in the gym is always open, but your bed is way more comfortable and Netflix is totally calling your name.  The freshman 15 is just a myth anyway, right?  Wrong.  With all the new freedom and stress, your appetite grows larger and your pants grow smaller, how can this be avoided?

Start by making smart food choices.  Eat three balanced meals a day.  Get protein and carbs, fruit, vegetables, the whole ordeal.  When you snack, try to go for the fruit and protein bars, and unbuttered popcorn instead of the potato chips and candy bars.  Don’t sleep through breakfast just because you can wake up, eat a poptart, and run to class.  Wake up and give yourself time to make it to breakfast.

Provide yourself with enough sleep.  Don’t stay up all night trying to cram for that test.  Don’t procrastinate and that won’t be necessary.  Sleep deprivations not only has physical consequences, it also has mental consequences.  Your brain will start to shut down and your metabolism will slow down and it’s all around very unhealthy.  Try to count on getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night so that you can function properly.

Take advantage of your school’s weight room.  It will most likely be open everyday.  Go to it.  Create a workout plan or find one online.  Lift weights, squat, run on the treadmill, run outside, just get some sort of exercise.  Taking care of your body is very important and if you don’t work it out, you’re going to absolutely gain the freshman 15.  Working out and staying fit will help your mood, your brain, and your systems (like your immune system, metabolism, respiratory system, etc.).  You pay a large sum of money to be at the school, you might as well take advantage of the facilities and keep your body healthy.

Procrastination

Senior year makes it so easy to fall into the habit of procrastination.  You’ll get to it eventually.  However, in college procrastination is about as deadly as rat poison.  If you procrastinate in college, you will be up all night scrambling to finish your 30 page English paper and putting the finishing touches on that project that is due in your 8 A.M.  You will need about 4 times the amount of coffee you usually drink and you can forget about learning anything at all the next day.

There is really no point in waiting until the last minute to do all of your work when you have ample amount of time to do it.  Professors will tell you about due dates in advanced, they won’t spring things on you last minute.  Use your planner to plan out these projects and papers.  Mark out small amounts of time every day to work on them and spread it out over a period of time.  Make sure in these plans that you give yourselves a day off from all of the work so that you don’t burn yourself out. Give yourself enough time to get work done.  If you can’t work in your room, go to the library.  If you need help, contact your professor and ask them questions when you need to.  Go to the writing labs and get someone to read over your paper or look over your project for any detail that you may have missed.

After every finished product, reward yourself.  Watch that movie you wanted to watch, go out for dinner at your favorite restaurant, go out with your friends, do something that will make you happy so that you feel great about finishing your assignment early and then you will want to do it again.

If you do find yourself in a situation where time really go away from you, do not panic, that would be the worst thing to do.  Yes, you will have to pull an all-nighter to finish, but there are tactics that you can use to help you get through it.  You should drink some coffee and plug in your lap top, sit back and get started on that essay.  Map out your time throughout the night, after you finish a portion of the assignment, take a break.  Pour some more coffee, take a shower, take a power nap, eat some brain food, etc.  Do this periodically throughout the night so that you can finish the assignment and stay motivated while doing so.

Be Ready to Plan Your Life

Start now, get a day planner and start using it everyday.  You may think that this will be a waste of money, but you will thank me later.  In college you don’t have teachers who put the homework online or give you an online calendar of projects and tests.  You won’t have announcements every morning reminding you of upcoming events and you won’t have your parents reminding you of when you work next and what your hours will be.  You need to be prepared to keep track of everything yourself, and practice makes perfect.  Get in the habit of writing out all of your assignments and writing out due dates, tests, and when your clubs meet.  Add in what days you work, and any other fun activities that you may have planned.

Keep this thing organized and it will be your lifeline.  Mark off the days that you’ve completed and cross off the tasks that are finished.

Starting this practice now will help you later when you have to actually manage your time and keep your schedule under control.  You’ll be able to balance classes with working and any clubs that you’re in and anything you want to do that’s outside of all of that.  This is a very key thing that as a young adult you will need for your entire college career.

Roommates…

Yes roommates.  One of the scariest things about college.

–“Will they like me?”  “Will I like them?”  “What if they’re mean?”  “What if I can’t stand them?”  “I wish I knew who it was already.”

There are many ways to go about thinking about who this person you will be living with is, but the reality of the situation is that they are just as afraid as you are.

If you’re like me and you just have to know things before so that you can plan, social media will be your best friend.  Many colleges have “Class of 2018” facebook groups in which everyone who has decided on their school will post things about finding roommates and things that they like to do.  Or you could go through the “[Insert School] Class of 2018” hashtag on twitter or instagram to find people who are also attending your school and get to know them.  My roommate and I connected through social media.  Once you find someone that you get to know better and get along with, it’s sort of like an interview process to decide if you want to really room together, but eventually once everything checks out, you’ll have a roommate that you know you’ll get along with.

You could also just fill out the housing contract and have the school randomly match you up with someone.  Once you get randomly set up with another person you should get in contact with them and meet in person over lunch, or coffee, whatever you prefer, and talk and get to know each other.  Meeting before move-in day and having background information will help to build a better relationship with your roomie.  You wouldn’t want the first time you meet to be on move-in day, that is extremely awkward.

In the worst case scenario that you and your roommate just don’t get along at all, you’re not stuck with them for all four years (or however long you stay at college).  You will make tons of friends and you will hang out with them more than your roommate, unless you and your roommate get along really well, and sophomore year you can room with your new friends.  Plus, now you have the experience of dealing with people you don’t necessarily like in a mature manner.

Common Application?

A lot of colleges are on the common app.  You can apply to up to 10 at a time using it.  Everything is easier, right?

Or maybe not?  It seems that the common app system has a lot of problems that are still being figured out.  A lot of kids decided to only use common app and are now running into a lot of trouble.  The website crashes when there are too many people on it, and it’s very slow.  Using common app, you have to call every school that you applied to just to make sure that they definitely received your application and all of your credentials made it to the school on time for their deadlines. 

Using school-specific applications are a lot easier if you want to make sure that everything gets where it needs to be when it needs to be.  School-specific apps have specific essay questions that allow you to be very pointed and direct with the school that you’re applying to.  You will be able to explain why you would fit with what that specific school is about.  If a school has specific philosophies or principles that they follow, you will be able to use that to your advantage while writing your essay.  It will also give an opportunity for those writing your recommendation letters to make them pointed at the specific school as well.  You will be able to know when everything is in because they will e-mail your or you will get an account on the school’s website to track your progress. 

All in all, common app is easy but it may not be the best option for you, because while you use common app and write generalized essays, other applicants are writing essays based on what they know that the school is looking for.

Acceptance

Once you start getting your acceptance letters to the schools that want you, it may seem like the stress is lifted off of your shoulders.  That’s a great feeling, however there is still a lot that you will have to get done.  When you get a few acceptance letters, you may be ready to make a decision, but you should wait until you hear back from all of your schools to make that final decision.  Some things that you may want to take into consideration is the amount of money each school offers you.  Many schools offer an upfront merit-based scholarship which will account for your grades and SAT/ ACT scores.  Some schools may even give up to half tuition (or more) if you’re in the top 10% of your class.  The schools will send that number that they want to offer you with their acceptance letter.  They will also inform you on the materials that you need to complete and send back in order to enroll/ move in.  ONLY SEND THIS BACK AFTER YOU HAVE MADE YOUR FINAL DECISION.  I know that you probably have you first choice schools and back up schools, but what if one of your back up schools offers you $15,000 per year and your first choice offers you nothing?  Then are you still willing to go to your first choice?  I know right now that sounds like an obvious yes, but money is a very important thing to think about when you make your final decision.  Of course, you’ll end up picking the school that you believe is your best fit, but having the extra aid is always nice.

Once you do make that decision you’re going to have to fill out your acceptance form.  This is a form that allows you to accept their acceptance of you.  I know, it’s redundant, right?  Whatever works though.  Anyway so you have to fill that out and you have to get a physical done at your doctor, and you have to submit a vaccination history to make sure that you have all of your boosters up to date.  You also have to send your parents contact information and any other emergency information along with it.  You also have to send your housing deposit along with a housing contract and your roomie survey.  This all seems like a lot to handle, but once you get that over and done with, you’re pretty much set for school in the fall!  It’s all really crazy and really fast, but sending in all of that will make sure that you get registration materials when they become available, and then you’re really IN the school.

Admissions Types

There are 4 types of admissions:  Early Decision, Early Action, Rolling Admissions, and then Regular Admission.

• Early Decision:  For early decision, you apply to the school early and then they will send their admission decision to you and you’ll know whether you were accepted or not before everyone else.  Simple enough, right?  No.  This is a binding decision.  If you are accepted into the school then you are expected to go there (as long as you can afford it).  You can only apply to one school for early decision and once accepted you have to withdraw your other applications.  There are pros to knowing what school you are going to early, but there are also cons to this admissions option.  For example, the school knows that you have to go there once accepted so the financial aid that they offer may not be enough to keep you out of extreme debt.  Only apply for early decision if you have researched the school a lot and it is definitely your first choice.
• Early Action:  The only real difference between early decision and early action is that it is non-binding.  The school cannot tell you that you have to go there and you are allowed to choose another school.  You will find out early during the admissions cycle (January) and you must send a refusal/ acceptance of the acceptance by May 1.’
• Rolling Admission: The school will consider you as soon as all of the required documents have been sent over.  This includes your application, application fee, SAT/ ACT scores, official high school transcripts, and letters of recommendation.  Instead of using application deadlines and reviewing all of the applicants in a batch, schools that use the rolling admissions process will consider applicants as they receive all of the information.  Their decisions will be made quickly and they will usually let you know within 2 weeks of getting all of your documents sent over.
• Regular Admission: You send all of your documents and information to the school by a deadline.  The school will go through all of the applications at once and the process will take a while.  They will decide and then send out the decisions all at once usually a couple months after their deadline.

There is also a chance that a school might wait list you.  This means the school may accept you if spots become available.

If you are an athlete then you should look into being recruited.

I don’t even know what I want.

College.  The scariest seven letters any junior or senior could hear.  But, what is it that we want in a school?   Well, everyone wants different things; otherwise there would be one type of college.  So what do you want?  Small?  Big?  Close to home?  Far away?  I know that thinking about college makes you feel like an adult, but you’re never too old for your parent’s help.  The thing is, your mom and/ or dad are going to be some of the key players in your decision, after all, you’re their baby.  While your parents worry about the security and academics, figure out what you want.  The best way to do that is to actually visit schools.  If you have absolutely no clue what you want, visit all different types of schools to see where you feel comfortable.  Make sure to do a lot of research before you go because you want to know that they are actually options for you, personally.   Sometimes a school will click and you’ll feel right at home.  While you go on the tours, ask a lot of questions.  Ask about the food, the dorms, the different room options, what students do for fun, if anybody stays on the weekends, literally ask everything.  If you like the campus you visit first, keep that in mind, and find things that you like about it to ask about when you visit other campuses.  If you love any of the schools that you visit, contact the admissions counselor for your region and talk to him/ her about scheduling a personal interview to get more information.  And of course, if you like the school or love it, apply!