
If you struggled during a year in school and your grades had fallen, at the end of the grade input section on your application there will be a box in which the application asks you to explain any low grades. If you have a low grade, you should always explain it. In fact, any box asking for extra information about you, you should fill out. You want to be able to let the schools know as much about you as you possibly can, and that’s hard for them to do with just a few grades and scores. In addition, if a family member died, or your parents got a divorce, or someone was diagnosed with cancer, and your grades suffered as a result, schools want to know about that. This will also help them know why your grades have fallen, and they will definitely take that into account when you tell them your GPA.
Your personal statement can have a range of topics. Most (if not all) schools give you a prompt that you must answer in your personal statements. Some of the most common personal statment questions include: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story, or discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. The personal statements are asking you about yourself and who you are, so give answers honest to your personality. If you have an experience you would like to share, then share it! A family struggle, an accomplished goal of something you dreamed about doing, or something that happened in your family, and how that had affected you. Just remember to follow the prompt, and make your statement unique to you. Schools want to know about you, not your family or your friends.
Start your applications early (try doing the personal statement first, as this is usually the longest part of any application). Sit down on a weekend, and get as much done as you can. Register for the SAT and ACT early, this way you don’t take the tests at the last minute. The best time to take them is usually in May or June of your junior year (taking it twice is recommended). Schedule tours when it best works for you or your family, but ideally during school breaks so you won’t have try to catch-up on school work afterwards. Tours don’t usually run during the weekends, so plan accordingly. Schools will invite you to do interviews, and you need to plan in your schedule when that would work best. Use a daily planner with all of your school deadlines, and maybe even a calendar in your phone as well so you may have alerts. Also keep the dates of when you’re supposed to send in your SAT and ACT scores, and any mid year transcripts a school might want. Write everything down in the same place and keep it with you in case you ever feel insecure about some dates you’ve forgotten.
If you can’t go back and fix it, it may feel like the worst thing ever. I have a friend that accidentally wrote down the wrong hometown. Some applications may give you an option to revise after having it sent in, but if not I doubt a school will reject you because you forgot a letter to a word. Before sending in an application you have a review page so you can double check what is written. Have your parents check over it before you pay and submit, because they may see something you've overlooked! However, if you self reported the wrong grade, this is a more serious mistake. Contact the admissions offices right away to inform them of the error, and have it corrected. If you make corrections early on they will be much more forgiving.
After being accepted to a school, you are given meal plan options. These options will show up as you are registering for a dorm. You pick which meal plan works best (a lot of food, a medium amount of food, or a little food) and you pay for it with your housing application (at least for most schools). After committing to a school, look up what they have for various meal options, because schools can vary.
After being accepted to a school you will be notified when their housing applications are open. You are guaranteed a place to sleep (and certain schools will require you to live on campus your first year), but the longer you wait the worse your dorm room might be (although none are fantastic, if we’re being honest). You should join the school’s accepted students Facebook page to meet the other kids in your class (most of whom are looking for roommates). Also join Roomsurf, which is like an online dating profile but for finding a roommate. Some of my friends have tried meeting with potential roommates to get a feel for them before committing to them, but sometimes that isn’t an option (like if you live across the country from each other). On the housing application you can also do a random roommate assignment. However, when filling out housing applications you must be honest. You wouldn’t want to be stuck with someone who wouldn’t be a good match, and they wouldn’t want to be rooming with you, either. There are various dorm room types you can choose from (such as an LGBT friendly dorm, or one where you take a vow of abstinence, or you might live right near your professors, or with a group of honors kids). Make decisions on dorms that you’ll feel comfortable with, you’ll be living in it for a year.
If you’re in a work study program, the school is allowed a maximum amount of hours you are allowed to work. The school won’t give you so many hours that you’d have to drop out (that doesn’t look good for them). Time management would be the best option. And always go to your professors’ office hours, that way if you need extra help on something your professors can help you (as well as get to know you). College is about finding a balance, and so you’ll need to find the balance between the two. Weekends would be an ideal shift, but you won’t always get what you want. If you aren’t a part of work study, but you still need a job to support yourself, perhaps save some of your money before starting schools so that you can use the first semester to ease yourself into living on your own and juggling school work and a social life before taking on a job, this way you have an adjustment period before overwhelming yourself.
The best question to ask yourself is “What do I want in my college experience?” Want to join a fraternity or sorority? Look up schools with an active Greek presence. Are sports important to you? Find the schools with good sports programs. Do you want to be an artist? Find a school with an amazing art program. Google schools, visit schools, and have a list of the things you have to have in your college experience (and make no compromises, only apply to schools that have the things you want). Think of the different clubs you would like to join, the kind of job you want, the type of people you want to meet. Visit schools to get a feel of a place you would be happy in (while on the tours I recommend visualizing yourself walking to all of your classes). If a school doesn’t feel right, don’t go there. And you can always transfer if you feel you aren’t in the right place.
It’s hard to tell. Different schools look for different things and you never know what exactly they’re looking for. My best advice is to be yourself, because they’ll be able to tell if you’re trying to be someone you’re not. And you don’t want to change yourself too much for a place you think you should be. If a school doesn’t accept you it’s most likely because they didn’t think you would be a good fit, and if you changed yourself so that you would be your college experience may not be as fun.
Do something that you enjoy. Don’t join a million clubs that you don’t care about, join a few that you are passionate about and are able and willing to take leadership roles in. Work hard in school with your grades, and do what you can to make your SAT and ACT scores as high as you can. Most importantly, do your best so that you show schools you put your full effort into what you set your mind to, and you aren’t a slacker. And always stay true to yourself.
That would be ideal, however is not always feasible. You can test well and have a great SAT score and GPA, but do nothing besides academics and have no extracurriculars. You can have a great GPA and participate in sports, arts, and academic clubs, but be bad at testing and have a low SAT score. You don’t have to be perfect to get into a good college. In fact, showing improvement in your GPA is a great thing. If you have a low SAT score, but have other factors about yourself a school may want, you can still be accepted to great colleges. Test scores aren’t everything, grades aren’t everything, and extra curriculars aren’t everything. However, this is not saying don’t try your hardest, because you should. Aim for that A, for that great SAT score, and join clubs (although that’s hard at OSA, but you can still do things during the summers). Schools want to see you try your best, and challenge yourself. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to be your best self.
Applying as an undecided major is always an option if you’re not sure what to do with your life. Most schools also make it easy for you to switch majors (although you’ll have to check just in case, I know certain majors at Cal Poly make it exceptionally difficult). If you decide at sometime in your college years that you’re not at the school right for you, you can also transfer. In fact, certain schools make it easier for students to transfer into, so if you didn’t get into your first choice you can always try later. If you get accepted to schools but don’t feel right at any of them (or if you didn’t get accepted to any), that’s okay. You can go to community college and transfer your credits sometime down the road while you decide what you want to do. In fact, going to college may not be your thing, and you can look into travelling to foreign nations and helping people there, or working on your art. There are many options of things that you can do, and try anything to find what feels like the right fit.
Yes. Even second semester. You don’t necessarily have to get an A+ for every class, but you need to maintain the same grades that you’ve always had. If you used to have all A’s, then continue to be an A student. If you’re a B or C student, it wouldn’t hurt if you wanted to get a higher grade. It is also possible for a school to rescind an acceptance if your grades aren’t what they wanted. Not only do you have to keep the minimum GPA they want to be maintained after you have received your acceptance, you have to prove that you are and will continue to be a good student.
I know some people that have been accepted to schools despite not having the minimum GPA requirements. However, you should always try to get as high of a GPA as possible. Schools want to see you challenge yourself, which is why it’s always good to take as many AP classes as possible. If you don’t meet the minimum requirements for a school, it’s still good to try, but you’ll need to work hard on your grades so that they show improvement and that you are making an effort to meet their standards.
You can apply to schools via the Common App, while UC's and CSU's have their own applications. Naviance is a great way to manage your applications.
After applying to colleges, you can apply for government financial aid here.